


99% Toads

by Formula_Tea



Category: Formula 1 RPF, Formula E RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, F/M, False Accusations, Homophobic Language, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, Non-Graphic Violence, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-04
Updated: 2015-09-22
Packaged: 2018-03-05 09:13:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 49
Words: 107,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3114347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Formula_Tea/pseuds/Formula_Tea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Another Hogwarts AU to drop into the F1 fandom.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Train stations and reunions

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Not entirely sure how well this is going to go, but I thought I would give it a try anyway. Not sure how often I can update either, but probably less regularly than other things. Hope you enjoy! Feedback always welcome. :)

Sebastian was walking close behind Kimi through the overcrowded train station in search of the right platform. Even though it was Kimi’s sixth year at Hogwarts, it was his first time departing from King’s Cross. Usually a family friend who worked at the school would take him at the beginning of every year but, as Sebastian was nervous enough to be throwing up the night before, he decided to give the flying car a miss and take the train with the first year.

“Idiots,” Kimi muttered. It was difficult to avoid people’s stares when you’re pushing a trolley piled with Hogwarts gear with an owl cage balancing precariously on top.

“Do you know where we are going?” Sebastian asked for the third – no, _fourth_ – time that day.

“ _Yes_ ,” Kimi replied, even though he had no idea where he’s heading. Platform 9 and three quarters. Why wizards had to be so god damn secretive he didn’t know. This was the twenty first century. The muggles were more magical than wizards were these days.

“Nando? Have you seen my toad?”

“For god’s sake, Felipe!”

_Ah ha._

Kimi began to push his trolley in the direction of the voices, ignoring the fact that this was in the exact opposite direction they had been heading, and beaconed for Sebastian to follow him.

Just around the corner stood Fernando, Felipe, and Jenson, and about a dozen toads. It made Kimi feel a million times less stupid watching Fernando trying to clean up the mess without the muggles passing by noticing his wand.

“Morning,” Kimi said, making Nando jump and drop a few toads, which made Felipe burst out laughing again.

“Kimi? What are you doing here?”

“Catching the train,” Kimi said.

“You are on the wrong platform for that,” Felipe said, grinning. “We are waiting for Bruno. He missed the last train. Should be here any minute now.”

“Right,” Kimi said, slowly. Of course he knew that. This was platform three. “Any idea how to get to the right platform?”

“I knew you didn’t know where we were going,” Sebastian said, watching one of the toads leap into Felipe’s hands and disappear.

Jenson looked past Kimi to the first year trying not to look as amazed at the magic as he really was. Even though he was a pure blood, Sebastian had grown up in the muggle world. He’d known about magic all his life, but seeing it in the outdoors, where _muggles_ could see it.

“I’ll go and take these two to the train,” Jenson said, shaking a toad off of his foot so he could walk again.

“Do not leave me alone with him,” Fernando cried.

“We won’t be alone,” Felipe said, grinning mischievously. “Bruno will be here soon!”

“Don’t leave me alone with _both of them_ ,” Fernando cried, even more desperate than before.

“You’re a prefect now, Nando,” Jenson said, pushing his trolley past Kimi and Sebastian. “You’re going to have to get used to it.”

Jenson was pretty sure Fernando swore at him as he walked away, but a train whistle cut out the noise. He led Kimi and Sebastian back through the crowd they had been navigating for the past half an hour.

“Are you starting this year then?” he asked, turning to speak to Sebastian.

“Um, yeah,” Sebastian said, nervously. He glanced up at Kimi, hoping he would answer any more questions for him, but he didn’t expect it.

“Nervous?”

“A little.”

“Ah, there’s nothing to worry about,” Jenson said. “Besides, you know, man eating spiders, crazy curse kids, and whatever’s hiding in the Forbidden Forest. No, no, I’m joking. There really is nothing to worry about.”

He grinned, but it did nothing to settle Sebastian.

“Ignore him,” Kimi muttered when Jenson wasn’t looking.

“I’m giving good advice,” Jenson called back. “What house you hoping for?”

“I… um… don’t know,” Sebastian said, quietly. He didn’t really care as long as they didn’t turn around and tell him that he didn’t belong there. He kept having that nightmare: they would put the sorting hat on top of his head and it would tell them to get him on the next train home.

“Well, _I’m_ a Gryffindor,” Jenson said, proudly.

“That just means he’s an idiot,” Kimi said, quietly, making Sebastian smile.

“No, I’m pretty sure that’s on the checklist for a Hufflepuff,” Jenson laughed. “That’s your so-called guide, by the way.”

Sebastian nodded, not daring to trust himself to speak. He already knew that, of course. Kimi was his best friend and the only real source of information on Hogwarts he had ever had.

“So, yeah, then you’ve got Ravenclaw and Slytherin,” Jenson said. “I know a couple of Ravenclaws that would look out for you if you end up there. And a few Slytherins.”

“He knows one Slytherin very well,” Kimi said, quietly.

Jenson stumbled a little and even from behind him Sebastian could see him go bright red.

“Shut up.”

“Ok,” Kimi said, before leaning over to mutter in Sebastian’s ear. “You know Keke Rosberg?”

“Yeah?”

“His son.”

“Shut _up_ ,” Jenson said again, his face going an even darker shade of red.

Kimi smirked and patted him on the back when they came to a stop on another platform.

“Platform nine and three quarters,” Jenson said, proudly, waving at a brick wall.

Kimi rolled his eyes, completely done with the wizarding world.

“Where is it?” Sebastian asked.

“Watch,” Jenson said, nodding towards a couple with their daughter approaching the column that separated platform nine and platform ten. The girl looked around Sebastian’s age, maybe a little younger, with light blonde hair that kept falling into her face and the most adorable dimples Sebastian had ever seen.

“It’ll be fine,” the mother said, brushing the girl’s hair out of her face again. “Give it a run if you’re a little nervous.”

The girl looked up to her father, who just nodded gently, then gulped. Holding on tight to the trolley she was pushing, the girl stumbled into a run directly at the column.

Sebastian gasped when she passed through, making Jenson smirk, and again when he parents followed her.

“It’s quiet clever actually,” Jenson said.

“It’s stupid,” Kimi muttered, unimpressed.

“It’s amazing,” Sebastian said.

Jenson grinned, patting Sebastian on the back. “See you on the other side,” he said, before running at the bricks himself and passing through.

“The wizarding world is just a bunch of people with sticks trying to show off,” Kimi said. “Do you want to go first or should I?”

 

For the third year in a row, Susie barely made it onto the Hogwarts Express before the train pulled away. New cat in her arms so it didn’t trip anyone up, she squeezed through the narrow passage between compartments, trying to find her friends.

Eventually she finds the almost empty compartment. Valtteri had his feet up on one of the seats, flicking through one of his new books. Pastor was sat opposite him, already asleep. Valtteri looked up from his book as Susie gently slid the door closed and groaned.

“Another new cat?” he asked.

“Mum likes cats because they’re ‘normal’,” Susie said, sitting beside Pastor. The cat hopped off her lap and immediately started trying to scratch through the door.

“Let me guess. Merlin the fifth?”

“So what if he is,” Susie said, pouting.

“Would have thought by now you would have learned that you do not have the skills needed to look after a cat,” Valtteri commented. How she had managed to go through three cats in one year, Valtteri did not know. He didn’t know where the last two cats had even come from, unless it was in the post, which would have been weird. He had a feeling Professor Schumacher, head of the Hufflepuff house, had been helping her. The professor must have had a hoard of them somewhere and a desire to kill them off.

“That was just an accident,” Susie said, pulling Merlin the fifth onto her lap and patting the cat’s fur down.

Valtteri rolled his eyes and returned to his book. He would like to see how many cats she got through this year now that she would have access to Hogsmeade.

 

“Just please do not do anything on the train,” Fernando said. The way Felipe and Bruno were grinning up at him didn’t fill him with much confidence. They were fourth years now. They should have grown out of this silly state a long time ago, but they hadn’t. They had not in the slightest.

“Am not going to Nando,” Felipe insisted. “Go and find your Mark. Share prefect secrets with him. We will be fine.”

Fernando didn’t believe that in the slightest, but he did need to go and find Mark. They hadn’t seen each other all holiday and the letters and long distance phone calls didn’t comfort him half as much as he needed them to.

“If I see any duplicating frogs,” he warned as Felipe pushed him out into the corridor.

“You won’t!” Felipe promised. “Go! Go and find your Mark!”

He could hear Felipe sniggering as he started to walk away from their compartment, but the laughter soon stopped when a boy in the year above Fernando’s came out from the next compartment along.

“Thought I heard you,” he said, nodding to Fernando when he passed him. His grin was directed towards Felipe. “They let you back in then?”

“Rob,” Felipe said, his cocky grin falling as soon as he spotted him.

“Or are you resitting third year?”

“Got into fourth year,” Felipe said, trying to smile again but achieving nothing but a nervous smirk. He took a step towards Rob, out of sight of Bruno. The last thing he needed was for his friend to be making fun of him over this.

“I bet your parents weren’t impressed with your results though,” Rob said, arms crossed.

“Nope,” Felipe said. “Maybe you will have to tutor me again.”

“Hmmm, maybe I will,” Rob said. “I have to see Professor Williams about my time table. Come and see me after that and I’ll see where I can squeeze you in.”

“Am only small,” Felipe pointed out. “Not difficult to squeeze in.”

“I think you’re going to need all the time you can get if you want to pass this year,” Rob said. “Things get serious now, Felipe. You can’t just spend all the time goofing off.”

“Would never dream of it,” Felipe lied.

“I bet,” Rob said, unconvinced. “Anyway, I should get going. See you at Hogwarts.”

“See you.”

 

Mark and Jenson had already found their own compartment much further down the train and were in the middle of a game of exploding snap when Fernando found them. Jenson rolled his eyes but let Fernando dump his stuff on the seat beside him before Fernando fell into Mark’s lap.

“Oh, stop huffing,” Mark laughed, shifting so he and Fernando could sit more comfortably. Jenson was surprised the two of them hadn’t morphed into one being yet. “You get your princess when we get to Hogwarts. Let me have mine now.”

“I am not going out with Nico Rosberg,” Jenson said, placing another card on top of the pile and doing his best to ignore the pair of them.

“Sure,” Fernando said, his head back do he was looking up at the underside of Mark’s chin. He was sure the Australian was beginning to grow a beard, even though Mark insisted it was just the lighting. “And Felipe and Bruno are not setting the train on fire as we speak.”

“I’m not,” Jenson insisted. The colour of his cheeks was giving him away though. He didn’t know why he couldn’t just admit it to them, but something was stopping him. And he didn’t want to be telling anybody without asking Nico first. It was these things that his father went mad about. He was a distraction. And a Gryffindor at that. There was no way Professor Rosberg was going to be happy if he ever found out about this.

“Alright,” Fernando said. “Are you going to deal me in or not?”


	2. Sorting and Stuff

“First years, this way. If you are not a first year, you should know where you’re going. If you don’t know where you’re going, I suggest you speak to your head of house when you eventually make it to Hogwarts.”

The sound of Professor Horner’s voice was amplified across the station and first years began to flock towards him, all dressed in their uniform and nervous to begin. None seemed as nervous as Sebastian, though. He’d slept most of the journey and was now stuck to Kimi’s side as they wrestled through the crowds once more.

“You should go with him,” Kimi said, nodding towards the professor. “Go on. We all end up in the same place. It’s just because first years need sorting. That’s all.”

“You’re sure?” Sebastian asked. He looked between the teacher and his friend. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the blonde girl from the platform, chatting to a tall, thin boy with curly brown hair heading towards Professor Horner.

Kimi saw the look and grinned. “You will be fine,” Kimi insisted, pushing Sebastian towards the pair. “Go and make friends.”

Sebastian grinned back at him and gave him a small wave before hurrying to catch up with the two students. Kimi watched him go, then realised he was going to have to find someone who knew where they were going, because he had no idea.

“Hi,” Sebastian said, still grinning. “Are you first years.”

“Yep,” the curly haired boy said. He had a grin that put Sebastian’s to shame and it looked like it hurt to stretch his mouth that wide, but his eyes said it was genuine. “Dan. And this is Hanna.”

“Sebastian,” Sebastian said, shaking Dan’s hand when he offered it. “Do you two know each other.”

“No,” Dan said. “Well, we were chatting on the train.”

“ _He_ was chatting on the train,” Hanna said. “You’ll be lucky if you get a word in edgeways with him around. Sebastian’s a nice name, by the way.”

“Thanks,” Sebastian said. “My parents gave it me.”

Hanna giggled, making Sebastian’s heart flutter a little, but Dan’s full blown hysterical laugh took the spot light and had the three of them laughing whilst everyone else was silent.

Professor Horner glared at them. This was a good start to a new school.

 

Kimi spotted Felipe and Bruno heading away from the train station, each carrying a chicken. Kimi was long past the point where he cared what mischief the pair were trying to get themselves into. It had been funny at first and, though they always came up with new ways to cause havoc, it had grown boring after a few years. But they probably knew where they were supposed to be going, so Kimi followed them, hopefully.

Around the corner he was greeted by one of the most beautiful creatures he had ever seen.

The thestrals all stood with their wings tucked into place at their side, hiding the black, skeletal frame from view. The nearest beast to him flicked its thin hair out of its face and peered at Kimi with a glassy, dead eye.

Kimi ran his fingers through the thin mane, the grin from before now replaced by an awed smile.

Felipe and Bruno frowned at him as he stroked thin air. Maybe he had gone mad. Maybe O.W.Ls really were that bad.

“You see them?”

Kimi jumped and spun around. Professor Lauda smirked at him, patting the thestral on the nose. Kimi nodded, trying to regain his composure and ignore the Brazilians behind him sniggering.

“My mother,” Kimi explained.

“Of course,” Professor Lauda said. “I was surprised to see you had signed up for my Care For Magical Creatures class. I did not see it fitting in to your future plans.”

Kimi shrugged. “I liked it. It was my best class last year.”

“I know,” Professor Lauda said. “That is why I was surprised when Professor Schumacher told me you had no interest going into a career with creatures.”

“There is not much demand,” Kimi reasoned.

“You must make demand,” Professor Lauda said, seriously. “You are a bright student, Mr Räikkönen. Remember that this year.”

He patted Kimi on the shoulder before his bright blue eyes turned to the occurrence behind them.

“Whatever you boys are planning, I suggest you stop.”

 

Nico Rosberg was waiting for them when they got off the train. Jenson ignored the stupid noises coming from Fernando and Mark and waved for the Slytherin to come over.

“How’d you get away from your dad?” Jenson asked, pulling Nico into a brief hug and glaring at Fernando when he whistled.

“He does not know I have left yet,” Nico said. “I do not think he will care much once he has a new batch a Slytherins to brain wash.”

The four of them took a carriage together, Fernando waving his prefect badge at a couple of second years who were trying to claim it as their own.

“I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to use it like that,” Jenson said, watching the two girls scurry off to try to find somewhere else before it started raining.

“Sure you are,” Nico said. “It was in the letter.”

“Wait, you never told me you were a prefect too,” Jenson said, only now noticing the badge pinned proudly on Nico’s chest.

The German shrugged. “I thought it was a given, with Dad and everything. But, yeah. I didn’t think it was something for a letter.”

They’d been exchanging coded letters all summer: coded because Nico’s father would freak out if he knew his son was so close to a Gryffindor. Most of the school had grown out of the petty rivalry between houses, but not Professor Rosberg. Integration of students was fine, but there was no need for his son to be _close_ to any of them.

“So I’m the odd one out?” Jenson cried. “This is bloody brilliant.”

“You got quidditch captain, didn’t you?” Nico said, trying to sound as if he hadn’t been over excited about that for a week after Jenson had told him. “I’m pretty sure you’re allowed in our bathrooms with that.”

“Let us know when you two are planning to use them,” Mark joked, attracting another glare from Jenson.

“All the rights and none of the responsibilities,” Fernando said.

“I’ll have you know, head of Gryffindor Quidditch Team is a very important role,” Jenson said. “And I have a strongly worded letter from Professor Lauda to prove it.”

“Seriously?” Mark asked.

Jenson cleared his throat, preparing to do his best Lauda impression.

“This is a very important role, Mr Button. Not only are you responsible for getting our team out of the shit box, you also have to make sure the assholes you chose look up to you and respect you. You should be the one they are running from when they fuck up on the pitch. And you should be the one disciplining them if they do not keep their grades up. I expect zero tolerance, Mr Button. And I also expect you to make sure Lewis Hamilton is wrapped up in bed every night and no harm ever comes to our star player.”

“Wait a second!” Fernando jumped in when Jenson took a breath. “Grades?”

“Oh yeah,” Jenson said. “He wants to do this thing where anybody on the team who didn’t get over forty per cent in last year’s exams has to take another at Christmas or they’re off the team.”

“Seriously?” Fernando asked, his eyes lighting up a little at the thought of what this meant.

“Yeah,” Jenson said. “Some of the team last year let their grades slip and…”

“Do Felipe and Bruno know this?” Fernando cut in, trying to keep his excitement to a minimum.

“Not yet, no,” Jenson said.

Fernando grinned. “Does not look like this year is going to be as bad as I thought.”

 

“Are you nervous?” Sebastian asked when Professor Horner disappeared to go and make sure they were ready for them.

“Of course,” Dan said. “My parents are… what’s that word you use? They aren’t magic.”

“Muggles,” Sebastian and Hanna said at the same time. Sebastian grinned down at the floor when Hanna laughed at him, kicking his shoe against the stone.

“Yeah,” Dan continued. “So I’m pretty sure I’m not supposed to be here. Just waiting for them to find out.”

He was grinning again and the size of his smile was still making Sebastian laugh.

“Muggle born?”

Sebastian’s laughter stopped at the sound of the scorn filled voice and he spun around to find himself face to face with a boy whose floppy brown hair took away his right to look down his nose at anybody.

“And what’s wrong with that?” Sebastian asked.

He knew what was wrong with that. The same thing his mother found wrong with muggle borns.

“And who are you?” the floppy haired boy with the ridicules French accent said.

“You first,” Sebastian tried, not entirely sure if he wanted to get into a conversation with this jerk.

“Jev,” the floppy haired French boy said.

“Jev?” Dan asked. “What kind of a name is Jev?”

A couple of the other students started sniggering and Sebastian could visibly see the blush in Jev’s cheeks rising.

“Mine,” Jev said. “And what’s yours?”

“Daniel,” Dan said. “But you can call me Dan.”

“I’d rather not call you anything at all.”

“You’re pretty cute,” Dan said, and the entire room burst into laughter again.

When Sebastian looked back at Jev, his entire face had gone bright red, which only made him look even more ridicules. After too long a pause, he opened his mouth to reply, but shut it again when the entire room fell silent.

Professor Horner stood at the door, the look on his face suggesting he was really that amused.

“They’re ready for you.”

There was a thud as two fourth years fell onto the bench at the Gryffindor table fifteen minutes after everyone else. Felipe and Bruno sat either side of Fernando, and the grin on their faces made Jenson shuffle down a little.

“Why are you two so late?” Fernando asked, even though he knew he really, really didn’t want to know.

“No reason,” Bruno said. It was the truth this time. There genuinely was no reason, but there was no way Fernando was going to believe that, and the boys didn’t really want him to believe it.

“Jenson has something to tell you two,” Fernando said.

When Felipe and Bruno were grinning, it usually meant that Fernando could expect trouble. When _Fernando_ was grinning, as he was now, it usually meant Felipe and Bruno could expect to be in trouble and, if Fernando got frightened at the boy’s grins, the boys where scared to death by his.

“What?” Bruno asked, slowly.

“Oh, um, Lauda wants anybody on the quidditch team with less than 40 per cent in last year’s exams to take another at Christmas or they’re off the team,” Jenson said, as if he didn’t know that both of them had only just scraped through last year’s exams. “It’s nothing really.”

“Forty?” Bruno asked.

“Yeah.”

“Ha!” Bruno cried, almost hitting Fernando in the face with his wand when he waved it triumphantly. “I got forty four per cent. Don’t need to take it.”

Felipe was a little less thrilled by the new information.

“How much did you get?” Jenson asked. As much as he was pleased with Fernando’s savour, he really could do without being a beater down.

“Thirty six,” Felipe said, quietly.

“Thirty six?” Fernando cried. “How did you only get thirty six?”

“Well I missed the Defence Against the Dark Arts practical, didn’t I?” Felipe said. “Rosberg wouldn’t let me resit.”

“Yeah, but so did I,” Bruno said. “What about the Charms theory? I think that was the only thing that saved me.”

“I fell asleep,” Felipe admitted.

“You what?” Jenson hissed. This wasn’t looking good at all.

“It’ll be ok,” Felipe insisted. “I will speak to Rob. Get extra help.”

“That worked last time,” Jenson snorted.

“This time I will _listen_ ,” Felipe said. “And not fall asleep.”

“You better,” Jenson muttered.

The doors at the end of the hall swung open and almost immediately everyone fell silent.

Every pair of eyes in the hall was on the group of students making their way between the tables. At the back of the pack was a boy much taller than the others, with dark skin and thick eyebrows.

“Who’s that?” Bruno whispered to Fernando, nodding towards the older boy.

“I guess that’s the Chandhok kid,” Fernando whispered back. “Moved here from India. He’s starting fourth year I think.”

“Don’t they usually get sorted before?” Jenson said.

“Yeah,” Fernando said. He just shrugged. He didn’t know why they expected him to know these things.

 

It was in alphabetical order, much to Sebastian’s annoyance. That would put him near the end. If they said his name at all. He was glad to know he wasn’t the only one worried about that, and kept glancing past Hanna at Dan. Dan had his eyes closed, his face had gone pale, and Sebastian had a feeling he was trying not to be sick. He didn’t blame him.

As the names were read out, Sebastian searched the room for Kimi. The Finn was sat half way down the Hufflepuff table, watching Sebastian closely. He wasn’t alone here.

 

“Karun Chandhok?”

Bruno sat up a little as the older boy at the back of the group slipped through the first years to take his seat and have Professor Horner place the Sorting Hat on his head.

He didn’t know what about the new kid made him interested in the usually boring and long winded process of sorting, but he wanted to know where Karun was sorted.

The Sorting Hat spent exactly zero seconds placing Karun, announcing him to be a Slytherin instantly.

Bruno didn’t mean to let out the small huff he did, falling back into his slumped state and zoning out for the rest of the sorting.

 

“Hanna Prater.”

Sebastian gently squeezed Hanna’s hand and whispered good luck to her as she slid through the thinning crowd of students. She smiled back as she pushed herself up onto the stool and Professor Horner placed the Sorting Hat on her head.

Sebastian held his breath, though he wasn’t sure why, as he waited for the hat to decide Hanna’s fate. It was a few seconds later before “Hufflepuff!” was announced and the table of yellow erupted into cheers.

Sebastian watched Hanna go with a grin. She looked back at him as she passed, smiling.

“Daniel Ricciardo.”

Dan did not receive the same squeeze of the hand as Hanna, but Sebastian did wish him good luck. He was a funny shade of yellow that didn’t look well, and stumbled up the steps to take his seat, receiving a few laughs from around the room and a roll of the eyes from Professor Horner.

The Sorting Hat sat on Dan’s head for much longer than it did Hanna’s. Sebastian bit his lip, starting to worry that what the Australian feared might come true, and if it could come true for Dan then it could come true for him.

“Hufflepuff,” the Sorting Hat announced eventually, and the cheer from the yellow house was this time accompanied by a snigger from behind Sebastian.

Sebastian was unsurprised to find the sound came from the floppy haired French boy with the stupid name and ignored the sound. It wasn’t worth it.

Dan bounced happily into the seat beside Hanna, grinning as he shook hands with other Hufflepuffs. He gave Sebastian two thumbs up when he saw the German watching him and Sebastian smiled in return.

The group slowly dispersed to the allotted tables, but Sebastian remained standing. Each name called out made him feel a little fainter. He wasn’t going to be on the list. He didn’t belong here.

“Jean-Eric Vergne.”

The floppy haired French boy brushed shoulders with Sebastian as he passed to take up the seat, leaving Sebastian the only one stood in the aisle between the tables. He glanced back at the Hufflepuff table again, searching for Kimi. The Finn smiled at him, trying to be reassuring, but it wasn’t helping.

“Slytherin,” the Sorting Hat announced, placing a smirk on Jev’s lips. That wasn’t a surprise then. He was greeted with probably the biggest cheer of all from the table on the far side.

“Sebastian Vettel.”

Sebastian was so relieved his name had actually been called he almost forgot to take a seat on the stool. He was shaking as Professor Horner placed the hat on the top of his head, preying this wasn’t some big mistake and he was about to be sent home.

It took longer than anybody else and students already at the tables were beginning to grow impatient.

“I just want to eat,” Jenson mumbled, poking the table unhappily. The comment gained a kick from Fernando under the table, but he just shrugged. He was hungry.

“What happens if they don’t know where to put him?” Dan asked Hanna, assuming she would know more about this than he did. Anybody had to know more about this than he did.

“They’ll know,” Susie said from across the table. “Sometimes it just takes longer than others.”

There were tears beginning to prick Sebastian’s eyes when, after forever, the Sorting Hat made it’s decision.

“Slytherin.”

Sebastian blinked in surprise and almost forgot to move as the entire room clapped, ready to eat. His eyes slid from the Hufflepuff table to the Slytherin.

Professor Horner prodded him in the back and he stumbled up and over to the table. It couldn’t be that bad, he thought. Nico was here, and he knew Nico. And at least he’d actually gotten a house.

Jev glared at him from across the table when Nico made space from him beside him. Sebastian just smiled and pretended not to notice.


	3. Introductions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More scene setting I guess

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There were lots of spelling mistakes in this, so let me know if there are any mistakes. Thank you. (Other feedback also needed!)

“Well, you’ve got my dad,” Nico said, going through the staff members for Sebastian. “He’s our head of house so, if you’ve got any problems, you can go to him.”

Sebastian nodded. He knew Professor Rosberg through his wife, who had been working with Sebastian’s own mother at one point.

“But if you don’t want to go to him, I’d speak to Professor Horner,” Nico said. “He’s a bit of a jerk but if you get on his good side, he’ll look after you. He teaches potions as well, so he’s down with us in the dungeons.”

“Dungeons?” Jev asked, butting into the conversation.

“Yeah, that’s just what they’re called,” Nico said. “It’s just a basement really.”

 

“Are you going to go over to speak to Rob or what?” Jenson asked, watching Felipe poke at his food.

“Am eating,” Felipe complained.

“Go and do it,” Jenson hissed. “Come on. We are not losing to Ravenclaw again.”

“Fine,” Felipe snapped, putting down his knife and fork. He didn’t even know why he was putting it off. It was probably some kind of attempt to play it cool, though he didn’t know why he was doing that either. Rob would not know flirting if it hit him in the face with a spoon.

Rob was talking to Valtteri when Felipe slid between them, making space for himself on the foreign table and taking food from Rob’s plate.

Rob frowned, confused.

“I was in the middle of something.”

“I need your help,” Felipe said. “Professor Lauda is making me take an exam at Christmas and if I do not pass I am off the team.”

“Yeah, but I’m still in the middle of something,” Rob said, nodding to Valtteri. Valtteri gave a small wave just to make things more obvious. “Valtteri’s taking some O.W.Ls a year ahead and needs some help.”

Felipe looked between Valtteri and Rob as if there was a conspiracy theory forming in his head.

“Yeah, but _I_ need some help,” he said.

“And I can help you too,” Rob promised.

“When?” Felipe demanded.

“After I’ve sorted my time table out with Professor Williams, I will come and speak to you,” Rob said.

“It is important,” Felipe reminded him.

“I know,” Rob said, laughing. “Is there anything else or?”

Felipe turned to Valtteri, not entirely sure what to make of him. He knew the Finn, of course. Valtteri was in most of his classes: a know-it-all but not a show off. There had never been any reason to dislike him…

“No,” Felipe said, slowly.

There was no reason to take a dislike to him now and, stumbling a little as he stood from the bench, he smiled at the Finn.

“Good luck with your… thing,” he said. “See you soon, Rob, yes?”

“Yes,” Rob said, swatting Felipe away when he tried to ruffle his hair as he left.

 

“…But you won’t do any Divination until third year,” Nico said. “And then there’s the charms teacher, Professor Schumacher.”

“Oh, I know about him,” Sebastian said before he could stop himself.

Sebastian’s little brother would say he had a shrine dedicated to Schumacher, which wasn’t really true. Sebastian admired him. One of the greatest aurors of their time, taken out of action far too early. It was the only job Sebastian could see himself in and _that_ was the reason why he had every book Schumacher had written on the subject. And handmade notes on the ex-auror’s style. And a signed photo he’d been given when he was six.

It _wasn’t_ a shrine.

“He’s nice enough, but if he hears you talking shit about Hufflepuffs, he’ll rip your throat out,” Nico said. “Then next to him is Professor Lauda, head of Gryffindor.”

“What happened to his face?” Jev asked, quietly, earning a shove from the girl next to him. “It was just a question?”

“Dragon,” Nico said, as if it was nothing.

“Dragon?” Jev hissed.

“Yeah, he used to work in the field, you know?” Nico said. “Looking after creatures that were terrorising settlements and taking them to sanctuaries to live and things. Teaches Care of Magical Creatures now, obviously…”

 

“Are you excited about Hogsmeade?” Claire asked, falling into the seat beside Susie. After an embarrassing first year which Susie had barely managed to scrape through, Claire had become her tutor. Now she was sure that wasn’t needed, but the pair were planning on staying friends, even if Claire was starting her sixth year.

“Don’t get me started,” Susie warned. “I’ve already had a rant from Valtteri on the train about getting over excited about this.”

“You deserve to get excited,” Claire said. She knew how hard it had been for Susie to get her parents to sign the permission form. It was hard enough to get them to let her come to Hogwarts in the first place, both of them set on their daughter being a doctor or some other good muggle job.

“I’ll show you all the sights on the first visit, if you like,” Claire said.

“Really?”

“Sure,” Claire said. “I’ll drag Valtteri away from his books and we’ll all go down together. Should be fun.”

“Great,” Susie said. It was only when Claire got up to leave that she remembered another question. “One more thing. Is Merlin the fifth a stupid name for a cat?”

“Is this your fifth cat?” Claire asked.

“Yes.”

“Then not really.”

 

“…And on the end is Professor Williams, head of Ravenclaw,” Nico finished. “He teaches transfiguration, but he also organises all the extra tuition and stuff. And that’s everyone really. Except Professor Hunt, of course.”

“Professor Hunt?” Sebastian asked, searching for a face at the top table Nico hadn’t identified.

“Yeah, he teaches Muggle Studies,” Nico explained. “Well, _teaches_ is probably an exaggeration. He doesn’t come to the feasts or anything though.”

“Why not?” Jev asked.

“Because he’s dead.”  


Sebastian seemed to be getting on well enough, Kimi thought. Not that he was watching him, of course, just keeping an eye on the first year to make sure he was ok. He had looked like he was about to cry when the Sorting Hat had taken so long to place him, but he was better now, thankfully, grinning as he talked to Nico Rosberg and some other first year who’s name Kimi could not remember.

Kimi cast his eye around the rest of the hall, not entirely sure what he was looking for. The two first years Sebastian had been chatting to were now sat on the end of his table and Kimi made a mental not to go and speak to them at some point, just to ask to make sure Sebastian had somebody to talk to in his classes. Maybe Sebastian would be fine on his own, but there was nothing wrong with making sure he had a little extra help.

There didn’t seem to be anything else in the room that concerned him, and Kimi was about to mumble to the few people who sat around him that he was heading up to the dormitories when there was a loud bang from somewhere else in the castle.

 

Fernando turned to Bruno with wide eyes. He had to ask. He was dreading the answer, but he had to ask.

“What did you do?”

“We had a lot of chickens,” Bruno began. “And things got messy. Now we don’t have the chickens.”

 

Once the feathers had been cleared from the staircase, the prefects began the task of taking the students from the Great Hall to the house common rooms. Before Sebastian could be swept away by Nico, though, Kimi grabbed him from the crows and pulled him to the side.

“You are ok?” he asked.

“One of the teachers is dead,” Sebastian said. It wasn’t that he was horrified by this. Surprised, but not horrified.

“Yeah, you get used to it,” Kimi said. “But you’re fine?”

“Yeah, suppose so,” Sebastian said with a small shrug. “Jev’s a bit of a dick but other than that.”

“Jev?”

“Just some kid.”

“If you have problems with him, you can come to me,” Kimi reminded him. “You are allowed to be friends with people outside your house. Don’t listen to what Rosberg tells you.”

“Thank you,” Sebastian said. “I should get going, but I’ll talk to you tomorrow, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Kimi said. “Come and find me if you need me though, ok?”

“Alright,” Sebastian called, skipping after Nico and the rest of his house on their way down to the dungeons.

Kimi almost laughed a little. He _knew_ Sebastian was going to do fine here. There was no way the kid was going to let himself fail. But he’d thought it would take a little longer for him to settle in than it already has.

“Scared Sebastian does not need you anymore?” Jenson asked, appearing at Kimi’s side as Fernando led the Gryffindor first years past.

“No,” Kimi said, shrugging off the hand that Jenson placed on Kimi’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry about it,” Jenson said, replacing his hand. “It was the same for me with Kevin last year.”

“I am not scared,” Kimi said, shrugging Jenson away again and going to his own common room.

 

Once upon a time, if rumours were to be believed, students could sit and study quietly in the Gryffindor common room without being disturbed. That was no longer the case at Hogwarts.

“Boys dormitories are up that – if you two do not _fuck off_ , I am going to get Professor Lauda – stair case, and the girls – seriously, is everything in your lives a joke? – over this side.”

Bruno and Felipe sat in one corner, pretending to be going through some of the books that had been left behind the summer before, but they weren’t fooling anybody.

Jenson ducked to miss a low flying paper plane that probably has something along the lines of _you smell_ written on it, and patted Fernando on the back, congratulating him on having lasted a good couple of hours as prefect without exploding. It was better than last year’s.

“Things will calm down once lessons start,” Jenson said, though he wasn’t really sure he believed that. “And if not I’ll do extra quidditch practice to keep them out of your hair.”

“Bet Mark does not have this problem,” Fernando sulked, watching the first years disappear up into their allotted dormitories.

“Every house has their clowns,” Jenson said, even though he was pretty sure Fernando was right.

“Am going to go and see Mark,” Fernando muttered. “Call if you need me.”

“Say hello to Rob for me!” Felipe called.

They both grinned, watching Fernando go. Jenson rolled his eyes and went up to make sure his own things had been left untouched upstairs. The paper planes fell as soon as they left.

“Are you actually going to get somewhere with Rob this year?” Bruno asked.

Felipe shrugged. “He wants to.”

“You are sure?” Bruno asked, smirking. “That isn’t what it looked like to me.”

“What do you know?” Felipe asked, suddenly defensive.

“Nothing,” Bruno admitted. “ _But_ , the way he was talking to that blonde one. Bottas.”

“It’s nothing,” Felipe said, turning back to the textbook he had on his lap. “He’s taking his O.W.Ls early and needs Rob’s help.”

“Alright.”

“It isn’t the same,” Felipe insisted, knowing exactly what Bruno was thinking. “It’s not.”

“Ok,” Bruno said, holding his hands up.

Any thoughts of mentioning the new kid – Karun – disappeared. That was where Bruno had wanted to take the conversation. There was something about the new Slytherin that had Bruno’s attention, and he wanted to know if Felipe had noticed anything. But his best friend clearly had his own problems to be solving, and it would be no use talking to him.

Once lessons start, and he’d actually had a chance to speak to Karun, he’d ask Felipe about it. Until then, Bruno figured he could keep this nagging thought to himself.

 

The Slytherin common room wasn’t as bad as Sebastian had imagined them to be when he heard the word dungeons. The walk down here hadn’t been that nice but, once they were inside, they were greeted by the finest of rooms, as if a secret palace had been hidden beneath the castle.

Nico grinned at the look of awe on the first year’s faces as he told them where they could find everything they needed. The Slytherin House’s private area was by far the most equipped of all the houses, and he knew that some students during exam periods didn’t even leave the common room for meals, as they could find everything they required there.

He kept one eye on Karun, who followed the group around whilst Nico did his little tour, not wanting to mingle with the first years but not proud enough to shy away from the tour.

Once the first years had raced into the dormitories, keen to claim beds, Karun was left alone and Nico figured it was probably the best time to talk to the exchange student properly.

“It can be a little overwhelming at first,” he said. “Don’t worry about it.”

“I’m fine,” Karun said. He hadn’t spoken much at the feast, though Nico was sure he’d seen him listening in on his staff run through.

“Good,” Nico said. “If you need anything, though, just come and speak to me. I’m not really that scary.”

“Thank you.”

A silence settled, the exact opposite of what Nico wanted, but he couldn’t really come up with anything else to say. He let out a long breath.

“So…” he said. “What brought you to Hogwarts?”

“We had a problem at my old school,” Karun said. When Nico expected him to go on further, he didn’t, and Nico didn’t push him.

“Alright then,” he said. “I am sure that will not happen here.”

“It won’t,” Karun said, definitely.

Nico nodded, feeling himself fall further and further out of his depths. “Well, I should go and check on the first years. Pastor is in your year.” He waved over to Pastor, who was glaring at them from where he was sat on the other side of the room. “I’m sure he can help with anything if you would rather speak to someone your own age.”

 

Jev had told a joke that Sebastian did not find funny, but it seemed like everybody else did. He could not get on with these people, and he was not going to let himself turn into one.

He sat on the bed he’d been left with and started to unpack his case, trying to ignore the laughter from the other boys. He knew he should be trying to make friends – his mother had warned him not to be one of the sad kids who misses out on making friends – but he didn’t agree with these people, and he wasn’t going to pretend. He would just get on with things and keep out of their way.

“What is the matter with you?”

Sebastian spun around. He hadn’t noticed the rest of the boys fall silent until Jev spoke, standing directly behind him and waiting for a response.

“Nothing,” Sebastian lied. He was not going to start an argument. Just because he didn’t want to be friends, didn’t mean he was going to start an argument.

“You were sticking up for the mud blood earlier,” Jev pointed out.

“And?”

This. This was exactly what his mother had warned him about.

“How did you even get into this house?” Jev asked.

“I never asked for it.”

“Would you rather be in Hufflepuff?” Jev asked. “With your little mud blood friends.”

“That’s enough.”

Everyone in the room spun around in unison, a couple stepping away from Nico, who had just come into the room. He glared at each boy in turn, pausing on Jev until he looked away.

“Your blood does not make you anything special,” Nico said. “I don’t want to hear any talk of that in this house. It’s no wonder we’re always cast as the bad guys. You cannot get respect by mistreating others. And if you do not want respect, then you do not belong in this house. Good night, boys.”


	4. Lessons Begin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I felt like I should add the last tag. I don't think it should be that much, but I also didn't want anybody to be hurt by it without warning, so I added it.  
> As always, feedback, comments, and hits are greatly appreciated. Thank you so much for reading :)

“They like to throw you into it don’t they,” Dan observed as he hurried after Hanna, already late for their first lesson: Transfiguration.

“Come on,” Hanna hissed, skidding to a stop outside what they _hoped_ was the right classroom. They’d already gotten it wrong twice and Hanna was not going to walk in on another fifth year Defence Against The Dark Arts class (She was pretty sure Professor Rosberg could have killed them with the look he had given them as they shrank back out of the classroom). “You first.”

Dan knocked quickly, no worries about another annoyed teacher, and pushed open the door.

The entire class turned to greet them and Professor Williams stopped what he was doing at the front of the class.

“Sorry we’re late,” Dan mumbled. “This _is_ Transfiga-whatsit, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Professor Williams said. “Take a seat.”

Dan and Hanna slid into the classroom as the teacher carried on talking (“A brief history of Transfiguration before we really begin.”). There were seats free beside Sebastian. In fact, the entire area around Sebastian seemed to have been cleared and it was immediately clear why as soon as Dan sat down. He wrinkled his nose, brushing screwed up paper balls off of the desk.

“What’s that smell?” he whispered to Sebastian, gaining muffled laughter from somewhere else in the classroom.

“Me,” Sebastian muttered back, trying to focus on the notes he was making but he could barely see them through his tears. “Someone let off a stink bomb or something. If you want to sit somewhere else it’s fine, I understand.”

“Of course I don’t want to move somewhere else,” Dan said, pulling out his own things. “Just let me copy your notes, ok?”

Sebastian turned to Hanna, who had taken the seat on his other side and was already frantically trying to make notes on what Professor Williams was saying.

“The same goes to you,” he said.

“I am not going anywhere,” Hanna said. “No asshole is going to stop me doing what I want.”

 

“Potions on the first day,” Bruno muttered, following a group of fourth years down into the lower level of the castle. “Just our luck.”

There was already a huddle of students outside the potion’s classroom door, waiting to be let inside. Bruno stood on his toes, looking for Karun, whilst Felipe waited next to him, already spouting ideas for their next trick. Bruno was barely listening, and he was pretty sure Felipe knew that, but his friend carried on talking anyway.

Karun was following Pastor through the crowd whilst Pastor searched for his own friends. He didn’t look at all comfortable but Bruno didn’t think it was possible for anybody to look comfortable around Pastor.

“I am just going to…”

“Move out the way and I can let you in,” Professor Horner called, pushing his way past the students to let them into the classroom. “You lot are keen today. Anybody would think you were actual students.”

Nobody actually replied to the teacher, all mumbling under their breath about how much they all _love_ this class.

When Pastor joined Valtteri and another Slytherin at a bench for three, Karun was left standing in the middle of the classroom. Bruno saw his chance and took it.

“Come and sit here,” he called, patting the stool beside him.

“What are you doing?” Felipe asked, watching Karun look around in case Bruno was talking to anybody else.

“Have you got a problem?” Bruno asked.

“No,” Felipe muttered.

“Then he can sit here,” Bruno said.

It was easy to see how nervous Karun was as he dumped his bag under the bench and took the stool beside Bruno. Bruno couldn’t help but grin though. He still hadn’t figured out what about the new kid that made him interested, but there was definitely something.

“Bruno, by the way,” Bruno said. “And this is Felipe.”

“Karun,” Karun said, even though Bruno already knew his name. He didn’t say that though. That would definitely come across as creepy.

“Right then,” Professor Horner called, bringing the attention to the front of the class. “Potions. Year Four. You guys are going to love this.”

There was an evil smirk on his face when everyone groaned.

“Are you any good at potions?” Bruno asked, quietly.

“Suppose,” Karun said.

“Right, you can help me.”

 

“Don’t you have anything better to be doing?” Nico asked, looking up at Kimi who was sat opposite him in the library.

“Nope.”

Kimi couldn’t figure out what Nico was actually doing. It was the first day of term and he hadn’t had a lesson yet. What was there to be doing?

Kimi had his feet on the table and was watching Nico skim through some of the textbooks and try to ignore him, but it wasn’t working.

“What do you want?”

“How is Sebastian?”

“What?”

“How is Sebastian?” Kimi said again.

Nico looked up from his books, trying to make out what Kimi was thinking, but the Finn was as blank as always.

“Fine.”

“Good.”

Kimi didn’t look away but added nothing else, so Nico turned back to his books. He could still feel Kimi’s eyes on him and looked up a few seconds later to find the Finn still staring at him.

“What?”

“Sebastian will need looking after,” Kimi said. “He is not like normal teenagers, and he certainly is not like normal Slytherins.”

“And what is that supposed to mean?” Nico asked.

“He is not like normal Slytherins,” Kimi said, with a shrug. “He has already made enemies, right?”

Nico’s eyes narrowed whilst he tried to work out exactly how Kimi had known that. He couldn’t know about the argument in the dormitories. He had to be guessing.

“I am right.”

“He will settle down and things will get better,” Nico said.

“He has always been the same,” Kimi said. “I am not saying jump to his rescue every time someone speaks to him. Just keep an eye on him.”

 

 _Suppose_ was an understatement it turned out and, for the first time in years, Bruno came out of the potions classroom without Professor Horner shouting after him to come and finish the potion.

“What have you got now?” Bruno asked, walking alongside Karun and having to jog a little to keep up.

“I… um… I have a free I think,” Karun said.

“Great, so do I,” Bruno said.

“No,” Felipe butted in, hurrying along behind them and struggling to keep up. “We have Care For Magical Creatures, and Professor Lauda will curse you if you miss the first lesson. You are not missing it.”

He was probably the only teacher they were both scared of. Bruno sighed. There really wasn’t much chance he could miss it and remain alive.

“Yeah,” he said. “I should probably go to that.”

“We could meet at lunch, if you want,” Karun suggested. “I mean, only if you want to.”

“Sure,” Bruno said, his face brightening again. “Yeah, I’ll see you at lunch.”

At the top of the stairs, Karun followed Pastor whilst Felipe pulled Bruno out of the castle.

“What was that about?” Felipe hissed, glancing back behind them, but Karun was gone.

“What do you mean?” Bruno asked.

“You _like_ him,” Felipe said. He sounded annoyed but then a grin burst onto his face as soon as he realised he was right.

“I don’t.”

“You do!” Felipe cried. “Even Rob would have been able to see this. You like him. Bruno likes the new kid!”

“Shut _up_ ,” Bruno hissed, knocking Felipe with his shoulder. “I don’t.”

“Then you will not mind if I tag along to your meeting at lunch,” Felipe said, dodging Bruno’s feeble attack and walking backwards ahead of Bruno.

“I thought you were going to see Rob at lunch,” Bruno said.

“I _was_ ,” Felipe said. “But maybe it is more important that I do not let Karun get the wrong impression. Unless, you _want_ him to have that impression…”

“Shut up, Felipe,” Bruno demanded. “Just stop.”

“Fine, ok, I will stop,” Felipe said, but the grin on his face said Bruno had not heard the last of this.

 

“How are we running late _again_?” Hanna asked, running after Dan and Sebastian through an empty corridor to the Charms classroom. “Why didn’t we follow everyone else?”

“I thought this was a short cut,” Dan said.

Hanna opened her mouth to argue that how could he have possibly known it was a shortcut when they had only been there less than a day, then realised it was her and Sebastian who were the idiots for following him.

“Maybe he won’t be there yet,” Sebastian said. He really, really did not want to be late to Professor Schumacher’s first lesson. He’d managed to convince himself he didn’t smell that bad, it fading away through the last lesson, but he’d swap smelling good to being on time any day.

“Here we are!” Dan said, finding the classroom. He knocked quickly and opened the door, about the give his cheery “sorry we’re late”, when he tripped and face planted the floor. The classroom burst into laughter as Hanna and Sebastian picked him up from the floor.

There wasn’t a teacher in the classroom, which should have been a wave of relief for Sebastian, but it wasn’t. It just meant the bullies were running things at the moment.

Jev sat on the front desk, laughing with the rest of them.

“Come on,” Sebastian muttered, pulling Dan with him as he pushed through the crowd that had gathered.

“Ooh, looks like Sebbie has gotten himself a little mud blood boyfriend,” Jev called, attracted a glare from Sebastian and laughs from the rest of the class.

“Just ignore it,” Dan muttered, rubbing his nose where it had hit the stone.

“Don’t worry, I intend to,” Sebastian said, but he couldn’t stop himself shooting Jev another scowl as he sat down.

Jev pushed himself off the desk whilst Sebastian was routing in his bag for his things, coming over and pulling Dan out of his seat.

“What are you doing?” Sebastian asked.

“Maybe we should put the gay little mud blood back in the closet?” Jev said.

He pushed Dan, who was a little too confused to be fighting anybody, into a group of fellow Slytherins, who had already cleared a cupboard of books for the event.

“Leave him alone,” Sebastian snapped, standing.

“Make me,” Jev replied, the smirk still on his face.

Sebastian glanced over Jev’s shoulder at Dan, struggling to stay out of the cupboard, and pulled him wand from his bag.

Jev snorted. “What are you going to do, Sebbie?”

“Nothing.”

Everyone fell silent when the classroom door slammed shut. Professor Schumacher’s eyes flicked between Sebastian and Jev, then his gaze spread over the rest of the class.

“Who would like to tell me what is going on?”

Nobody said anything, everybody still frozen and waiting for the teacher to explode or something.

“Who would like to tell me what is going on?” Professor Schumacher said again.

“Sebastian was just defending Dan, professor,” Hanna said, waving over to Dan. The boys had let him go, but it still seemed obvious what they were trying to do.

Professor Schumacher nodded silently, looking at each student in turn.

“Alright,” he said, eventually. “Take your seats. Charms.”

 

“Are you sure you should be doing this?” Rob asked as Valtteri rushed into the library. He shouldn’t be rushing around on the first day of term. If Valtteri was already struggling to stay on top of everything, this didn’t look like it was going to end well.

“It is fine,” Valtteri said, dumping his bag on the table and sitting opposite Rob. The thud sounded made the bag sound much heavier than it should have done. Rob rolled his eyes. “It is _fine_ ,” Valtteri said again.

“You don’t have to, you know,” Rob said, prodding the bag with his wand. “It doesn’t make you a failure.”

“If I do it now then there is less pressure next year, no?” Valtteri pointed out, opening the bag to search through it.

“Yes, but next year you’ll be working on your N.E.W.Ts knowing you,” Rob laughed.

“It is not a bad thing to be ambitious, is it?” Valtteri asked.

Rob considered it for a moment. Most of the students he was given to tutor were under achievers. They couldn’t get the grades they needed or didn’t _want_ to get the grades they needed.

Valtteri was different. Having a student who wanted to do well, who actually _listened_ to him would make a pleasant change.

“No,” Rob said, smiling. “No, it isn’t a bad thing at all. Right, where do you want to start?”

 

“Alright, I think that is enough for today,” Professor Schumacher said after putting out the third flaming tea cup of the lesson. “Class dismissed. Except Mr Vergne, Mr Ricciardo, and Mr Vettel. I would like to speak with you, boys.”

This situation wasn’t even on Sebastian’s list of situations to not get himself into, mainly because not even his mother could have imagined him getting into a fight. Maybe getting picked on, but nobody would have imagined him sticking up for himself, let alone anybody else. But here he was.

Professor Schumacher waved for them to sit in the front row of desks, and they did. Jev purposefully left a chair between himself and Dan and if he could get more pathetic, Sebastian wasn’t sure how. Professor Schumacher sat on the edge of his own desk, hands clasped.

“Somebody is going to need to tell me what happened before I walked in,” he said. “And nobody is leaving until I know.”

Dan wasn’t looking at the teacher, waiting for somebody else to explain or for the teacher to get bored. Sebastian looked over at Jev, surprised he hasn’t jumped in to save his own back yet, but Jev was watching him, daring him to speak first.

Sebastian took the lead, if only to get Dan out of this quicker.

“His _friends_ were trying to lock Dan in the cupboard,” he said, nodding to Jev.

“I didn’t do anything, sir,” Jev cut in.

“He wouldn’t,” Sebastian said. “Wouldn’t want to get his hands dirty.”

“Is this true?” Professor Schumacher asked, talking directly to Dan this time.

Dan looked up, then between his two classmates, not really sure what to say. He nodded, in the end. “Yes sir.”

“Right then,” Professor Schumacher said, crossing his arms. “Do you have something to say, Mr Vergne?”

Jev glared at Dan. Clearly he did not have anything to say. Dan’s eyes were already back on the floor and Sebastian could see him shaking a little.

“Sorry,” Jev spat.

“Ok then,” Professor Schumacher said, pushing himself off of the table. “Consider this your warning, Mr Vergne. If I hear of you harassing another one of my students, you will be on the next train back to London, do I make myself clear?”

“Yes sir,” Jev said.

The boys stood to leave, but stopped when the teacher cleared his throat again.

“Mr Vettel,” he said. “Don’t let me catch you aiming your wand at another student.”

There was a faint smile on his face that Sebastian didn’t quite understand the meaning of, but he nodded anyway and promised not to, before letting Dan pull him out of the classroom.


	5. Meetings at lunch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is another chapter! Hope you enjoy

Somehow, and he really didn’t know how, Bruno had managed to shake Felipe off on his way back up to the castle and was alone when he spotted Karun, waiting outside the Great Hall and looking a little lost. Bruno was a little surprised he’d actually showed up, half expecting to be waiting for the Slytherin all lunch only to be disappointed. Karun grinned at him, the awkward looking expression making Bruno laugh as he skipped over.

“Didn’t think you were going to show up,” Bruno admitted, leaning against the wall beside Karun.

“Why not?” Karun asked. “You’re not that bad, are you?”

“Depends who you ask,” Bruno said, unable to believe how fast he was coming up with replies. “Anyway, why don’t I, um, show you round the castle? Show you the sights?”

“Are there many?” Karun asked, pushing himself away from the wall and following Bruno.

“What are you talking about? It is beautiful here,” Bruno laughed. “Come on.”

They split the tide of students making their way to lunch and headed back outside. The grounds weren’t exactly deserted, a few groups of students dawdling about on their lunch break, but it was quiet, much quieter than if they had stayed inside.

“It is not such a bad place here,” Bruno said. He wasn’t entirely sure how to start the conversation, and selling the school wasn’t really nessisary, but he was speaking, so it couldn’t be that bad. “Most of the students are ok. The teachers, not so much, but then maybe I ask for it?”

He laughed, hoping to make Karun smile again, but the new student just looked awkward, so he stopped.

“Sorry.”

“What for?” Karun asked.

“I am not very good at this,” Bruno admitted with a shrug. “I have to joke. I do not know what else to do.”

“There’s nothing to apologise for,” Karun said. “I just… have you noticed I have an awful smile? Look. Even when I am happy, I look like I do not want to be there. It is fine. You are doing nothing wrong.”

“Well that’s good,” Bruno said. “If you could just keep telling me that, it would be great.”

Bruno led Karun away from the castle and down towards the Great Lake. He wasn’t aiming for anywhere in particular, but was trying to stay out of the way of other students about.

A silence was beginning to settle again and he knew that he couldn’t let it, but he also couldn’t think of anything else to say. Karun didn’t look like he wanted to steer the conversation and Bruno was beginning to wonder why the Slytherin had suggested meeting in the first place. Probably just to humour him…

“So, one lesson in, how are you feeling?” Bruno asked, awkwardly trying to fill the silence. It didn’t make any sense. Felipe could chat away to Rob for hours, and Fernando and Mark would never shut up if you put them together, but he didn’t know what to say and he didn’t like the silence. Maybe he didn’t like Karun how Felipe thought he did after all.

Karun shrugged. “Alright, I guess,” he said. “Nothing to complain about.”

“Other than my awful conversation,” Bruno joked.

“You are not so bad,” Karun said.

“Why thank you,” Bruno said, grinning again.

They reached the Great Lake, standing a little way up from where it lapped at the washed grass. Karun wasn’t looking at Bruno, he noticed, which made him feel a little more comfortable.

“What was your old school like?” Bruno asked, curiously.

Karun shrugged again. “Nothing special. I mean, it did not look like this, that is for sure. It was much smaller. You could not do anything without somebody hearing about it. It was alright, I guess. But so far this is better.”

“What made you leave?” Bruno asked, trying to keep the conversation going. “Oh… ignore me. Just…”

He was blushing, he realised, and started blushing even more as soon as he realised. He looked quickly away from Karun before they made awkward eye contact or something, trying to focus on stopping the blushing.

“It’s alright,” Karun said, focusing on the horizon so he didn’t even notice Bruno’s embarresment . “It’s nothing really exciting, I guess. There was just a disagreement.”

Bruno nodded. He shouldn’t have asked. He knew he shouldn’t have asked, but the words had just tumbled out of his mouth when the silence had threatened again.

“Well, no disagreements here, alright,” he said, trying to put a smile back into his voice but failing a little. “Because there are very few people to which I am not a let-down, so I am not losing one.”

“Why would anybody think you were a let-down?” Karun asked, turning to Bruno. “Or do I not want to know. You haven’t blown up the school or anything, have you?”

“No,” Bruno said. “Ok, _nearly_ but that isn’t why people think I am a let-down.” He sighed and sat on the grass. They were supposed to be going for a walk, but he didn’t feel like walking anymore. He didn’t want to say anything, but he didn’t want to shut Karun out. It was the first question he’d been asked and he wanted Karun to ask more, but he didn’t really know how to explain. “People have expectations,” he settled on eventually.

Karun sat down beside him, room for an entire herd of elephants between them. When Bruno looked over at him, there was concern on his face, which surprised the Brazilian at first. He looked away, quickly, but he could still feel his new friend’s eyes on him.

“It’s…” Bruno took another deep breath. He’d only ever told a few people this, and most of the time they’d ignored him and told him to stop being such a drama queen. “People hear something, and then they immediately think they know you, even if they have never met you. They have expectations as to what I will be like and, when I’m not, that is my fault. I cannot be me. I have to be what they think I am.”

“I think I know what you mean,” Karun said, quietly.

Bruno shook his head. “I hope you never know what I mean,” he said.

Karun just nodded and they fell into a silence again, but this time Bruno didn’t want to stop it.

He’d tried to explain this to his parents when the first “why can’t you just be like your uncle” rant started. They hadn’t understood and he didn’t want to try to explain again.

“I thought you were supposed to be showing me the sights,” Karun said, the awkward smile back on his face as he woke Bruno from his thoughts. “Come on. I am sure there is more to see than this.”

 

Lunch seemed like a good place to finish, even though they could both sit there working through Valtteri’s studies for another few hours if they were given the chance.

“I think you’re at the right level in Charms to be starting your O.W.L year,” Rob finished, helping the younger Ravenclaw pack his things away. “I also think it’s best if you tell me what you find difficult in class and we go over that and if there isn’t anything, I’ll cover what you’re _supposed_ to be doing this year in case they throw anything from that in. But yeah, I think you’re doing pretty well.”

Rob grinned at the way Valtteri’s cheeks flushed pink and the way he wouldn’t look up at him.

“Thank you.”

“Do you want to get lunch?” Rob asked. “I mean, there are a couple of things I could show you now, if you like?”

“I really do not want to be any trouble,” Valtteri said, the blush growing with every word. He still wouldn’t look up at him, making Rob’s grin grow. “But thank you. Next time, yes?”

That was another thing. It was nice that he was appreciated. It was nice that he mattered. Valtteri cared what he thought. Whereas, with some people…

“Rob!” Felipe cried, bouncing into the library and getting a glare from the librarian that Rob seconded. “Knew I would find you in here. Have you sorted out your time table yet?”

“I’ll see you later,” Valtteri mumbled, disappearing with his heavy bag before Rob could reply to his question. Rob gave a little wave after him then, seeing how angry the librarian was becoming, pulled Felipe out of the library.

The Brazilian just laughed, because everything seemed to be a joke to him. “Have you sorted out your time table yet?”

“It is day one of term Felipe,” Rob said. “Give me a chance. Anyway, if you had listened at all last year, you wouldn’t be taking this test, would you? It’s your fault you’re in this mess.”

“I know,” Felipe said, but he didn’t sound disappointed in himself at all and, even if he did, Rob wouldn’t have believed him. “But I will listen this year. To every single word. Promise.”

“I’ve spoken to Professor Williams,” Rob said. He didn’t like to admit he’d gone to see his head of house as soon as dinner was finished, but, against all his better judgement, he cared about this kid. “And he thinks it might be a better idea if you get a different tutor. And so do I.”

“No,” Felipe said, definitely, the grin falling from his face in an instant. “No, I want _you_. I thought you liked tutoring me. You are good at it. And I will listen now, I promise.”

“I have enough with Valtteri,” Rob said.

“I was here first,” Felipe pointed out, and the pout on his face would have made Rob laugh if he wasn’t so annoyed at him. “You cannot abandon me because you want a better student. A cleverer student to make you look good. That is not fair.”

“That’s not what I’m doing. I’m not abandoning you,” Rob tried.

“Are.”

“I’m not.”

“Then why will you not tutor me too?” Felipe asked.

“Fine,” Rob snapped. “But I have no timetabled space, so we’ll have to do it after lessons. And if you don’t improve, I’m getting Professor Williams to find someone else for you, ok?”

“Ok,” Felipe said, taking a deep breath that shouldn’t have been as relieved as it was. He was not losing his Rob to some show off know it all. “When do you want to start?”

 

“’Eh up, Jense,” Mark said, nodding over to the door.

Jenson didn’t even have to look to know who it was. But he looked anyway. He couldn’t stop himself.

Nico didn’t even look in his direction as he headed off to the Slytherin table to eat lunch. Jenson couldn’t blame him.

“Shut up,” Jenson said again.

“Is no use saying it is not true,” Fernando cooed, watching Jenson’s face go bright red when he turned back to his own lunch.

“Shut up.”

“Maybe you should invite him to your try outs,” Mark suggested. “Watch you take charge, boss everybody about.”

“Nobody’s coming to our try outs unless they’re trying out,” Jenson said, sticking his fork back into his mash potatoe and trying to ignore the boys opposite him. “That goes for you and all.”

“That is not fair,” Fernando whined. “You said Mark could come.”

“Not if he’s going to piss me off.”

“You are such a drama queen,” Fernando muttered, even though he was the one with his arms folded, glaring at the boy across the table.

“I don’t know why you won’t just admit it,” Mark said. “Rosberg can’t be that bad, can he?”

“Nothing is gone on,” Jenson said. “And, even if there was, it would be up to me and Nico to decide if we want to tell you or not.”

Mark and Fernando just smirked, which only annoyed Jenson even more.

“I’m going to the library,” he muttered, taking the muffin he was eating with him and glaring at his friends as he left.

 

“And that’s it really,” Bruno finished his tour. “Ok, so there is not really that much to see, mostly grass.”

“What’s that?” Karun asked, pointing towards the Forbidden Forest.

Bruno grinned. “Forbidden Forest. It’s forbidden.”

“That’s a stupid name,” Karun pointed out.

“Yeah, I know,” Bruno agreed. “Especially when out Care For Magical Creatures lessons are there. Or on the edge of it at least. Felipe and I have been in there a couple of times and have never seen anything, but Professor Lauda says there are all kinds of things in there. That’s why it’s forbidden. Most of the time.”

Their adventures into the forest hadn’t been that excited and they had stopped doing it after second year because there was no thrill there and it had become much more fun to wind up Fernando.

Karun looked at it curiously through.

“What kind of creatures?” he asked.

Bruno asked. “They say there are centaurs in there,” he said. “And fauns, and about a dozen lost cats and things. We never saw anything. I think it’s a trick. There’s probably a pub in there that all the teachers get drunk at, and that is why we are not allowed in.”

Karun nodded, but Bruno could tell he wasn’t listening.

“We could go in, if you like?” Bruno said. “Not _now_. It would be stupid to go in there now. But later.”

“I do not want to get into trouble,” Karun said, uncertainly.

“I think you befriended the wrong person for that,” Bruno laughed. “We could go tonight, if you like? Or not, I get it.”

“Not tonight,” Karun said, quickly. “Another time?”


	6. Jealousy and Potions

Kimi had been waiting in the great hall for at least fifteen minutes when Sebastian and Dan finally made it in. There was a small cheer from a group of first year Slytherins and Sebastian didn’t even look in their direction before heading straight for the Hufflepuff table.

“What is wrong?” Kimi asked.

“Nothing,” Sebastian muttered. “Just hungry.”

“What has happened?”

“Nothing,” Sebastian said again.

“Just some people being idiots,” Dan added, glancing over Kimi’s shoulder at Jev, who was making his way over to the Slytherin table. He didn’t seem too happy about the lesson before either. Maybe he would think again in future, but probably not.

“What lesson did you just have?” Kimi asked. He wasn’t letting this go.

“Charms.”

“Do you want me to go and ask Professor Schumacher what happened?” Kimi asked. “Or are you going to tell me.”

“Some people were just being idiots,” Sebastian said, not looking up at Kimi. “Like he said.”

“And then Seb stood up to them,” Dan added. “Only Professor Schumacher caught him pointing his wand at some Slytherin. God, that sounds really dirty when you think about it.”

“Some Slytherin?” Kimi asked. “Is this the same boy you were having trouble with yesterday?”

“It is _nothing_ ,” Sebastian insisted.

“It is clearly something if it has you acting like this,” Kimi said.

Sebastian’s eyes were firmly glued to his food though, and it was clear he wasn’t saying anything more on the subject. Normally the silence would have been music to Kimi’s ears – he didn’t get it very often from the German – but now it didn’t seem right and Kimi needed to fix that.

“Where are you going?” Sebastian asked when Kimi stood.

“Am going to see Professor Schumacher,” Kimi said. “If you are not going to answer me.”

“Don’t,” Sebastian said, quickly. “You’ll only make it worse.”

He’d gotten off lightly, he knew. He didn’t need Kimi or anybody else going in there and making Professor Schumacher change his mind about being so lenient.

“Then tell me what happened,” Kimi said, sitting back down. “I cannot help unless you tell me.”

Sebastian rolled his eyes, but eventually agreed to recite what had happened during his first morning, starting with the stink bomb and ending with staying behind with Professor Schumacher. Kimi’s face didn’t change at all whilst Sebastian had been speaking. There were few nods and very little to show he was paying attention, but his eyes remained focused on Sebastian, even when Dan added his own commentary to the story.

“Right,” Kimi said at the end of it. “I will go to speak to Nico.”

“No,” Sebastian said, quickly. “I’m not some grass. And I’m not going to let them think they’ve got the better of me.”

“I cannot just let them terrorise you,” Kimi said.

“They’re not terrorising me,” Sebastian said. “It’s just bullying. I will ignore it, they will get bored and there will be nothing to worry about.”

“Right,” Kimi said, but there was no belief in the ‘right’.

“Seriously,” Sebastian said. “If you go and talk to Nico, I will not talk to you again. You will just make things worse.”

 

“So,” Felipe asked with a grin when Bruno rushed into History of Magic a few minutes late.

“So what?” Bruno asked, pretending he had no idea what Felipe was talking about. He couldn’t stop himself blushing again though.

“I knew it,” Felipe cried, triumphantly, attracting glares from those who sat around them.

“Nothing happened,” Bruno said. “We went for a walk. I showed him around.”

“You are so slow,” Felipe said, grinning.

“Says you,” Bruno muttered. “And anyway, it isn’t like that. I do not _like_ him.”

“Sure,” Felipe said. “And I am going to pass this class.”

He looked down at the work he was supposed to be doing, then back up at the chalkboard, but he no longer had any idea what was going on.

“Did you see Bottas come in?” he asked, frowning at the Finn near the front of the class. He could have sworn he hadn’t been here when the lesson began.

“You were here longer than me,” Bruno said, deciding it was probably best he actually pretend to be doing some work.

“He wasn’t here a minute ago,” Felipe said, looking around the classroom, but it didn’t look like anybody else had noticed the disturbance. In fact, it didn’t look like most of them would notice anything, half of them asleep.

“Running late?” Bruno suggested, not really paying attention but trying to get his quill out of his bag without spilling the contents everywhere.

“I bet he’s learned to apparate,” Felipe hissed, glaring at the back of the Finn’s head.

“Don’t be stupid,” Bruno laughed. “You can’t apparate until your seventeen.”

Never mind the fact that he was pretty sure you couldn’t apparate within Hogwarts grounds, but Felipe didn’t seem to be in the kind of mood to agree with common sense.

“I bet he learned,” Felipe muttered again. “Show off.”

“What have you got against Bottas all of a sudden,” Bruno asked, smirking. He went away for _one_ hour.

“Nothing,” Felipe lied. He was not going to mention that Rob liked his new student more than him. That was not true. “He’s just a little annoying.”

“Then let him be a show of if he wants to,” Bruno said. “It’s never mattered before. Tell me what you told me before potions. I wasn’t really listening.”

 

Nico sat in the seat beside Jenson for Transfiguration and Jenson wasn’t sure if he should be happy about that or not. He could already hear the comments from Fernando and Mark, even though they hadn’t even come in yet, but Nico didn’t seem to think anything was wrong with it.

“Are you avoiding me?” Nico asked when Jenson didn’t greet him.

“No,” Jenson said. “It’s just Fernando and Mark.”

“What about them?”

“They know about us,” Jenson said. “Or they think they do. They won’t shut up about it.”

It shouldn’t have been bugging him as much as it was. He knew he should just let it slide as a joke and let them have their giggles until they got board of it. Denying it was only making them worse, but he couldn’t help it. If Professor Rosberg heard about this, Nico was in for a lecture and he was going to be stuck in the teacher’s bad book for the rest of his life.

“Ah, let them laugh, they’ll soon get over it,” Nico said, just like Jenson knew he would.

“Yes, but-“

“Jenson!”

Lewis sat on the table in front of them, facing them whilst their teacher was still not there.

“So, when are try outs?” he asked, grinning. Lewis was Gryffindor’s star player, there was no denying it. As much as Jenson wanted to.

“Next Tuesday,” Jenson said, making a conscious effort to try to stay out of conversation with him. It wasn’t that he didn’t like- Ok, maybe it was. Lewis was ok in small doses, but anything more than that became annoying.

“Do you think many first years will turn up?” Lewis asked.

Jenson groaned silently, but Nico new what he was thinking and was trying to hide his own laughter behind his hand. Jenson kicked him under the table, but it didn’t stop the laughter.

“Maybe,” Jenson said. “I don’t know.”

“Hmm, I hope they’re not thinking about trying to take my spot,” Lewis laughed.

Jenson couldn’t stop himself rolling his eyes at that. “Yeah, well, whatever makes the team strong.”

There had been no official comment saying he had to keep Lewis on the team, even though Jenson new that was what Professor Lauda wanted. But Jenson was in charge, and he wasn’t going to let anyone walk over him.

“What did you average in your exams last year?” Jenson asked, curiously.

“Sixty three, I think,” Lewis said. “Sixty something anyway. Why?”

“Nothing, just some new rule Lauda wants to put in place,” Jenson said. There was that hope gone.

“Excuse me?”

All three boys looked up to find Valtteri hovering at the end of Lewis’ desk.

“Do you mind if I sit here?” Valtteri asked.

“No, go ahead,” Lewis said, looking just as confused as Jenson and Nico did.

“What’s he doing here?” Jenson muttered, seeing as Nico had the tiniest bit more understanding of what went on at Hogwarts than he did.

“No idea.”

Valtteri was blushing again. The boys weren’t the only ones wondering why he was there, but he was just going to sit quietly and hope nobody asked him any questions.

“Hey, um, are you sure you’re in the right class?” Nico asked, quietly.

Valtteri nodded. “Am taking fifth year this year,” he said. “Just for a few subjects.”

“Right,” Nico said, slowly. “What about timetabling clashes?”

“There aren’t any,” Valtteri said.

“Really?” Jenson asked. “None at all.”

The attention was making Valtteri’s face burn. He knew it was going to be like this and he had been trying to prepare himself for it, but he couldn’t help feeling a tiny bit embarrassed. Or more than a tiny bit. He could do this. He didn’t need them to treat him like a little kid just because he was a year younger than them.

Professor Williams, when he eventually arrived, didn’t seem to mind though, knowing Valtteri was taking the extra class. Knowing about _all_ Valtteri’s extra classes. He waited at the front of the class for the students to shut up before starting.

Valtteri shrank back into his chair, hoping that, once this was “normal”, people would stop caring.

 

“Why is he in all our classes?” Sebastian muttered, watching Jev enter the potions classroom with a group of students that had already become his “posse”. It made him cringe a little.

“Because we all take the same classes?” Dan suggested in way of explanation. “It doesn’t matter, Seb. Just leave it.”

“How are you so calm with it?” Sebastian asked.

“You get used to it,” Dan said, poking the cauldron in front of him experimentally.

“You were bullied?” Sebastian asked.

“I was the gay kid who did magic tricks, of course I was bullied,” Dan laughed. “I just got used to it and carried on being awesome. It was their problem if they couldn’t handle my awesomeness.”

He just continued to grin whilst Sebastian tried to figure out if he was real or not.

“Shame though,” Dan said. “Pretty face. Ugly soul.”

“You talk as if you are writing a book,” Sebastian laughed.

“Maybe I am,” Dan said, wriggling his eyebrows and making Sebastian laugh more.

Professor Horner glared at them from where he was trying to figure out what was wrong with Hanna’s cauldron.

“I really think we should stop pissing him off now,” Sebastian whispered.

The introduction to potions wasn’t as bad as Sebastian had been expecting. Once he’d stopped talking and Professor Horner had stopped glaring at him, he’d quickly gotten understood what they were supposed to be doing and wouldn’t let anything distract him, much to Horner’s surprise.

“How are you doing that?” Dan asked, watching Sebastian in amazement as he made the so called simple potion Professor Horner had decided to start them with. The potion was supposed to be a glistening turquois, which Sebastian’s was. Dan’s was a dull green brown and it didn’t look like there were many people who were doing much better.

Sebastian shrugged. “Just following what it says in the textbook,” he said, nodding down to the textbook whilst he stirred the concoction.

“So am I but it doesn’t look the same,” Dan said. He took a deep breath over Sebastian’s cauldron and _yes_ , his potion smelt of freshly mown grass. His own potion smelt like… actually, he didn’t want to think about what his potion smelt like. “Did you crush the beetles?”

“Yes.”

“Add half, stir, add another half?”

“Yes.”

“Let it stand for ten minutes?”

“Yes.”

“Add snake venom?”

“Yes.”

“Let it stand for another three minutes?”

“Ye- what?”

“What?” Professor Horner called from across the classroom where he’d been listening to the boys.

Sebastian and Dan both looked down at the textbook. _Let it stand for another three minutes_.

“I… didn’t do that,” Sebastian said.

“No, you’re not supposed to,” Professor Horner said, peering at the textbook from across the desk.

“That’s what it says in the textbook,” Dan said.

It did. _Let it stand for another three minutes_. That was probably why none of the class had managed to get the potion right.

“How did you know not to?” Professor Horner asked, looking between the textbook (he was going to have to check all the way through for any other mistakes now, wasn’t he?) and Sebastian’s potion.

Sebastian shrugged. “It just didn’t seem right.”

“It didn’t _seem_ right?” Professor Horner repeated. He’d never heard anything as stupid in all his life.

Sebastian nodded. He didn’t know how to explain, but he had really been following the textbook, checking it every now and again to make sure he’d done the right thing.

“Maybe I’m just good at potions, sir,” Sebastian suggested.

Professor Horner hummed, not really listening. He flicked over the page in the textbook, but that gave no further explanation as to why the instructions were wrong and what seemed to be Sebastian’s own intuition was right.

“Alright, pour the potions into that bucket over there and rinse out your cauldrons,” he called to the rest of the class. There wasn’t really time to try again today and he was going to be a lesson behind already.

Sebastian made to take his own cauldron from the stand but Professor Horner stopped him.

“Why don’t you come by my office after lessons today?” he suggested. “There are a couple of things I want to try.”


	7. Hyperballs and Dinner

There was a Hyperball bouncing around the Gryffindor common room when Fernando returned from lessons at the end of the day and, judging by the fact everyone in the common room was simply sitting around and getting on with things, it had been bouncing around, knocking things over and giggling as it did so, for a while.

“Am going to kill them,” Fernando said, falling onto the sofa beside Jenson and pulling his Charms homework from his bag.

“They’re not even here,” Jenson said, not looking up from the book he was reading.

“This was still them,” Fernando said. He was certain of it. The Hyperball whizzed past Jenson, smacking Fernando in the cheek before bounding into the table on the way past and knocking one of the lamps there over. Jenson caught the lamp without looking up from his book.

The hit only made the Hyperball laugh more.

“Ah, they’ll calm down soon enough,” Jenson said, even though he’d been saying that for the past three years.

“Where are they?” Fernando asked, holding his throbbing cheek.

“I don’t know,” Jenson said. “I think Bruno said something about catching the new fourth year before dinner.”

“And the other one?”

“They work as a team, Fernando,” Jenson said. “You’ve nothing to worry about.”

 

Bruno figured Karun would have divination for last period. It was either that or a Muggle Studies booster class which was mostly taken by people who wanted to mess about for an hour, and Bruno couldn’t picture the new kid there. So he was waiting outside the divination classroom for the class to be dismissed, looking like an idiot.

He should probably have been ‘playing it cool’ or something, but he didn’t really care. He knew what playing it cool could do. Look at Felipe and-

“Bruno?”

Bruno looked up, quickly as the class of fourth years filtered out of the classroom. Karun grinned his awkward grin at him, Pastor looking very confused behind him.

“I will catch you up,” Karun said to his fellow Slytherin, standing aside to let Pastor and the rest of the class go. He waited until the staircase was empty but for the two of them before speaking again. “Fancy seeing you here.”

“I was going for a walk,” Bruno said with a shrug as if it was nothing and he went on walks to the top of towers all the time.

“You were waiting for me,” Karun said, his arms folded, but he was still grinning.

“Who is to say I was waiting for _you_?” Bruno asked. “A whole lot of other students in there.”

“I do not see anybody else talking to you,” Karun said, still grinning.

“Ok, I came to talk to you,” Bruno said, blushing. “Did not want you to think that, just because you are a goodie two shoes, I do not want to be friends with you.”

“Who says I’m a goodie two shoes?” Karun asked.

“Me,” Bruno said. “You _don’t want to get in trouble_.”

“I don’t,” Karun said. “Does not mean I am not up for a bit of fun.”

Bruno frowned, confused for a moment, then a grin crept onto his face.

“Do not worry, I will not get you into trouble,” he said, though Karun didn’t believe that in the slightest. “Really. Sometimes I do things and I don’t get caught. The Forbidden Forest?”

“Not tonight,” Karun said.

“Why?” Bruno asked, laughing. “Scared? Full moon tonight. Might be werewolves.”

“There are werewolves here?” Karun asked.

“Nah,” Bruno said. “Not that I know of anyway. Ok, so not tonight. You Slytherins have special full moon rituals or something, I get it. So, next week sometime? I have try outs on the Tuesday, so how about Wednesday.”

“Sure,” Karun said. “And we don’t have special full moon rituals. Do we?”

“Do not know,” Bruno laughed, leading Karun down the stairs so they could go to dinner. “Am not allowed to know.”  


Felipe was in the library.

This was not a common occurrence. At least, not without having been dragged in by Rob or having snuck in with Bruno to pull a prank.

He was sat in the library, alone, with his History of Magic textbook out and the notes from the previous lesson staring back at him. He didn’t remember writing any of them.

Rob was watching him from a nearby shelf, and he knew it. He could tell Rob did not _know_ he knew he was being watched, though, and wasn’t going to bother letting him know. Rob’s eyes flicked between Felipe and the librarian, who looked as surprised and confused as Rob did, both of them daring the other to ask what was going on first.

When he knew it had become obvious he had no idea what he was doing, Felipe put quill to parchment, but that didn’t spark any ideas either. How did other students _do_ this?

“You alright there?” Rob asked, sitting down beside him and peering down at his notes. He was half surprised to find they actually _were_ notes, though not very good ones.

“Yes,” Felipe said. “See that _you_ cannot make time for me, I thought I should maybe study on my own.”

Rob just smirked, taking Felipe’s notes from him. “I will help you after lessons.”

“ _Valtteri_ does not have to wait until after lessons,” Felipe pointed out, snatching his notes back from Rob and pretending to reorder them so he didn’t have to study.

“Valtteri has free periods when I’m free,” Rob said. “You don’t. And what does it matter if you have to come after lessons? Then you can come as often as you want. Every day of the week if you felt it necessary.”

“Why would I want to spend every day of the week with you?” Felipe asked, wrinkling his nose.

Rob just laughed and left him to it. There was no point arguing. It was only what he wanted.

“Good luck with your History of Magic, then,” he said, standing.

“Wait a second and I’ll come down for dinner with you,” Felipe said, not rushing to shove his papers into his bag.

“I thought you were studying.”

“I was,” Felipe said. “And now I am finished. Is only the first day, _Rob_. How much studying to you think I have?”

“You didn’t do anything.”

“Knew you were watching me,” Felipe said, pulling his bag onto his shoulder and leading Rob out of the library. Rob almost went back in, but he’d completely forgotten what he was in the library for anyway, and he was pretty sure Felipe would just come back and drag him out anyway.

“I wasn’t _watching_ you,” Rob said, but he couldn’t think of an alternative for it.

“There is nothing wrong with it,” Felipe said.

“I _wasn’t_ watching you,” Rob said, again, but he doubted Felipe would believe him.

“Sure.”

 

“What did Horner want?” Dan asked when Sebastian eventually made it down to dinner.

“I’m… I’m not sure,” Sebastian admitted, sitting between Hanna and Dan at the Hufflepuff table.

“What?”

“He wanted me to make some potions,” Sebastian explained. “I don’t know why. Just to see what I could do.”

“Do you think he’ll put you in for extra potions class?” Dan asked.

“It was only one lesson,” Sebastian sad. “How does he know that wasn’t a fluke?”

“Maybe he thinks you have the gift,” Hanna laughed.

“What gift?” Dan asked. “There’s a potions gift now too. They should give you a list of things you should know about the wizarding word before you come here. The portraits thing really freaks me out.”

“There is no gift, ignore her,” Sebastian said. “But I guess being in Horner’s good books isn’t a bad thing.”

As long as he didn’t become a teacher’s pet. He glanced over at the table he was supposed to be sat at, where Jev was sat paying them no attention. Things hadn’t been so bad since lunch. Maybe things would get better after the lecture Professor Schumacher had given him, but Sebastian wasn’t so sure.

For now, at least, things were quiet.

 

“Could you maybe ask Professor Lauda what the exam will be on?” Rob asked but it was clear Felipe wasn’t paying attention, gazing over Rob’s shoulder at Bruno, who was having a very animated conversation with Karun which involved lots of hand waving from the two of them. “Felipe?”

“Felipe? Are you listening?”

Felipe blinked, his focus back on Rob, but he had no idea what Rob was waiting for, so he nodded, not sure what he was agreeing to.

“Then what did I just say?” Rob asked.

“I don’t know,” Felipe said. “You weren’t making any sense.”

“Right,” Rob said, slowly, shovelling another fork full of mash potato into his mouth. “Could you please ask Professor Lauda what the exam is going to be on?”

“Can’t you do it?”

“Why can’t you do it?” Rob asked.

“Because I think he will like you more,” Felipe said. “And he will probably shout at me.”

“You probably should have passed your exams then,” Rob said.

“I did,” Felipe said. And he had. He had not been held back the year and he wouldn’t even have to be taking this stupid exam if he didn’t want to be on the quidditch team.

“Right,” Rob said, but Felipe wasn’t paying attention to him again. “What’s the matter?”

“Bruno likes the new kid,” Felipe said. “But do not tell him I told you.”

 

Bruno was having a good time with Karun, who was laughing at his incredibly bad jokes and replying with stories of India and his time at school there. Once he’d actually remembered how to have a conversation, Bruno found he was quite good at it, and his dinner lay forgotten on the table, as did Karun’s.

“Stop me if I’m boring you,” Bruno said.

“Stop saying that,” Karun laughed. “You have nothing to worry about.”

“Sorry,” Bruno said, again.

“About what you were saying earlier,” Karun said. “What did you mean?”

“About the Forbidden Forest?”

“No, about people expecting you to be something?” He was curious now. Even though Bruno had told him he had no idea what he was talking about, it had meant something to Karun.

“Oh,” Bruno looked between his now cold food and Karun. “That.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Bruno said. “I suppose. It’s just… just like I said, I suppose. People hear my name and expect me to be something I’m not. But when I’m not that, they get kind of disappointed in me. As if I’ve failed something that was never actually my task.”

He shrugged and started shifting food around his plate. Karun got the feeling he had stepped into the territory of touchy subjects. But he couldn’t just leave it there.

“Why would they assume anything?” he asked.

“It’s the name,” Bruno muttered.

“Bruno?”

Bruno couldn’t help the snorted laugh that he made, ignoring the glares from other Slytherins at the table. “No. No, _Senna_.”

Confusion filled Karun’s face until something clicked in his head and he realised what Bruno was talking about.

“Yeah.” Bruno said, the wide eyes and half open mouth enough to confirm that Karun had understood. “So, that is life.”

He smiled wryly, trying to come up with another story to tell to move them away from this conversation, but nothing sprang to mind.

“That must be…” Karun began, but he didn’t really know what else to say. “That can’t be easy.”

“No, it is fine,” Bruno said, smiling down at his dinner. “I am me. The teachers know me now. I can put up with everyone else’s comments, but here I have my own reputation.”

“For nearly blowing up the school?”

“That was once,” Bruno said.

“Twice,” Karun pointed out.

“That was twice,” Bruno corrected himself, a little surprised that Karun had even been listening to him. It was a pleasant change to his usual friends. “Really, it is fine.”

“You said you were a disappointment?”

“I am,” Bruno said, wishing Karun would stop now, because it was growing difficult to laugh about. “But everyone here is used to it, so there is little pressure to not be a disappointment.”

 

Rob recognised the look on Fernando’s face and groaned silently to himself as the Spaniard marched over.

“What did you do this time?” he asked.

“What?” Felipe asked. “I was in the library with you. Remember? You were watching me?”

The smirk on his face told Rob he was lying. Rob knew him well enough to know he was lying without the smirk though.

“What did you do?”

“Where do you even get a Hyperball?” Fernando snapped. He had a small bruise blossoming on his cheek which Felipe was pretty sure he’d only kept to prove a point.

Felipe shrugged. “Birthday present. I can ask my dad if you want to buy one.”

“No, I do not want to- I hate you.”

“Aww, Nnado!” Felipe grinned. “I never knew you cared so much.”

“The common room was a mess because of you.”

“Did you use your magic wand?” Felipe asked, sniggering. “That is what it is there for.”

“Yes I used my- what is wrong with you?”

“It was Bruno’s idea,” Felipe said, waving his hand over to the Slytherin table, where Bruno was still deep in conversation with Karun. “You are going to go and yell at him, too, aren’t you?”

“In a minute.”

“Can I have my Hyperball back now? If you caught it?” Felipe asked.

“Professor Lauda has it,” Fernando said. “You can go and ask him if you want it.”

Felipe watched Fernando go, still grinning, but he found that Rob was in no way amused. He didn’t expect the Ravenclaw to be, of course. Rob didn’t understand “fun”.

“You just don’t _care_ do you?” Rob asked, unimpressed.

“About what?” Felipe asked, turning back to his dinner. “I care about lots of things.”

“About school,” Rob said. “About the rules. About your classmates.”

“I do care.”

“Not enough to show it,” Rob said. “There’s no hope for you, is there.”

“That’s encouraging,” Felipe said.

“I can’t be bothered with this,” Rob said, pushing his plate away. “I’ll probably see you tomorrow. Good night.”

Felipe rolled his eyes, but didn’t bother to watch Rob leave. He could be a dramatic idiot when he wanted to be. For a moment he considered going over to ruin Bruno’s fun, but he wasn’t cruel, so he finished his food and went up to the dormitories. This year was already turning out to be better than expected.


	8. Good morning!

“Could have sworn I heard howling last night,” Valtteri muttered to Claire at breakfast the next morning as Susie sat down opposite them.

“Howling?” she asked.

“He’s delirious,” Claire said. “There was no howling. He barely stopped at all day yesterday. It’s no wonder you’re hearing things.”

“Maybe you are right,” Valtteri said, but he wasn’t so sure. He _knew_ what he had heard. Dogs or wolves or something that apparently didn’t want to sleep last night.

“Are you coming to Hogsmeade with us next week?” Susie asked.

“I have a lot of work to do,” Valtteri muttered.

“Oh come on. There’s a reason third year up have Wednesday afternoons off,” Claire said. “You can’t study all the time. You’ll rot your brain.”

That didn’t really sound true to Valtteri, but there was no way the girls were going to let this go, so he just nodded, mumbling something about finding time somehow. He’d figure it out later.

 

Mark caught Fernando just before he could enter the Great Hall, pulling him off into one of the tiny nooks that the castle was filled with.

“Morning,” Fernando said whilst Mark just grinned at him.

“So it is.”

“What is wrong with you today?” Fernando laughed, not sure if he should be scared, trapped between the wall and what was looking like a mad man.

“Nothing’s _wrong_ ,” Mark said. “I’m just happy to see you.”

“You will see me every day until the summer,” Fernando promised him, laughing a little. “There is no need for this.”

“There’s always a need for this,” Mark said, softly kissing Fernando. “I love you.”

“And that’s great,” Fernando said. “But can we get breakfast now?”

Mark sighed, but he nodded anyway and was about to let Fernando out of their hiding place when events outside caused them both to stop.

“Nobody’s here, are they?”

“Stop worrying about it, princess.”

With wide eyes, Mark and Fernando watched Jenson and Nico kiss.

“I missed you,” Jenson said, gently.

“It was ten hours,” Nico said, rolling his eyes. “Not even that.”

“I still missed you,” Jenson said. “You know, I have access to the Prefects showers, as Quidditch Captain.”

“We are not having secret meetings in the showers,” Nico said. “That’s so… sleazy.”

“Better than anywhere else,” Jenson said. “This is ridiculous. How are we going to have to carry on like this?”

“Until my dad stops being an idiot,” Nico suggested. “Or until you stop taking Defence Against The Dark Arts. Whichever one comes first.”

“I knew it,” Fernando hissed triumphantly whilst Nico and Jenson arranged their not so secret meeting in the showers. “What did I tell you?”

“Yes, alright, you were right,” Mark said. “So what do we do now?”

“What do you mean what do we do now?” Fernando said. “We go to their secret meeting and we tell them we know.”

 

Karun looked a lot worse for wear when he followed Pastor into the Great Hall. Bruno automatically jumped up, attracting a sigh and a roll of the eyes from Felipe, and the new student said good bye to his house mates to sit among the Gryffindors.

“Are you alright?” Bruno asked. “You don’t look too good.”

“I’m fine,” Karun said. “Just a bad night.”

“Do not look fine,” Felipe muttered, receiving an elbow in the ribs from Bruno. He glared at his friend, then took his cereal to go and sit somewhere else.

“Sorry about him,” Bruno said, because he felt he had to.

“He’s probably right,” Karun said. He felt like he was about to drop dead and was dreading the morning of lessons ahead. “But really, I am fine.”

“Your secret full moon rituals with the Slytherins went alright then,” Bruno said. “They didn’t want human sacrifice?”

“There was no human sacrifice last night,” Karun promised. “Probably wouldn’t be this hungry if there was.”

 

The good news was Sebastian didn’t smell like the back end of a troll when he sat down between Dan and Hanna at the beginning of the day. He’d cheered up a lot since the potions class and had escaped the dormitory before Jev or anybody else could play any pranks on him that morning, wondering around the castle grounds in the cold.

“Are you alright?” Hanna asked. “You feel freezing.”

“It was just a little cold out,” Sebastian said, tearing apart a pastry and putting it in his mouth.

Hanna wrapped her arms around him, trying to warm it up and, seeing Sebastian’s face go bright red, Dan did them same.

“You two,” Sebastian laughed. “I am trying to eat.”

“Warmer now?” Hanna asked, pulling away.

“Thank you,” Sebastian said.

“Right then. What’s first?” Hanna asked. “I am not going to be late again.”

First was Muggle Studies and, once Sebastian had finished eating and Dan had shoved half a plate of croissants into his bag, they headed off up the stairs, determined to find the room before the lesson actually began.

(Kimi watched them go, not wanting to disturb Sebastian when he was clearly happy. Maybe it really was nothing…)

“I heard the teacher for this class was dead,” Dan said, climbing the stairs behind Hanna and Sebastian because Hanna had banned him from leading the way.

“Yeah, that’s what Nico said too,” Sebastian said.

“How does that work, exactly?” Dan asked.

“Ghosts,” said someone behind them.

The three of them spun around, Dan jumping up and stepping on Sebastian’s toe. There was a ghost just… just floating there. The ghost – clearly (maybe clearly wasn’t the best word to use) an adult – grinned at the shock on their faces.

“There’s no such thing as ghosts,” Dan said.

Hanna replied with a smack on the back of the head. “Are you really going to discuss what is real and what is not here? In a magic school?”

“Sorry for the fright,” the ghost said, even though he clearly wasn’t. “Professor Hunt. I assume you’re first years.”

Sebastian nodded. “You’re the Muggle Studies teacher?”

“Teacher. Right,” Professor Hunt said, as if he didn’t really believe it himself.

He floated up the stairs, _through_ Dan, then stopped on the next landing.

“If you would like a guide to the classroom then I suggest you hurry up.”

 

Felipe was waiting for Professor Lauda when he came out of the Great Hall. He knew there was no use trying to convince Rob to go and ask what was on the exam and, even though he really couldn’t care less about his grades, he needed to stay on the Quidditch team, and if he needed to pass an exam to do thatm he needed to pass an exam.

Professor Lauda purposefully ignored him and Felipe hurried through a passing crowd of students to follow him out of the castle.

“Professor?”

“If this is to ask for your Hyperball back, the answer is no,” Professor Lauda said.

“It was not, no sir, though that is a little disappointing,” Felipe said. “It was not _my_ fault the ball got loose. They are tricky objects, hyperballs, sir. Would not be so good if it got loose in your office, sir. Would make quite a mess.”

“I can assure you it will not get loose,” Professor Lauda said. “Is there anything you actually want, Massa?”

“Yes,” Felipe said, suddenly remembering why he had come here. “Jenson says I will have to take a test if I am on the Quidditch team this year.”

“You did not make forty per cent?” Professor Lauda asked.

“You know I didn’t, sir,” Felipe said. He was almost certain the rule had been brought in escpecially for him and was a little bitter about it. “I’m going to pass though. One of the sixth years is tutoring me.”

“Mr Smedley?” Professor Lauda inquired.

“Yes sir,” Felipe said. “He wants to know what the test will be about, so we can focus better.”

“I am sure, even if I told you, _you_ would not be focusing on my exam,” Professor Lauda said.

Felipe stopped, stunned, and watched his teacher walk on along the little path that led to the Care For Magical Creatures lessons, before hurrying after him.

“Please sir,” he said. “You know Quidditch is the only thing I am any good at and I could come and ask you to change your mind about the exam but I am not. I am asking you to help me pass the exam. Surely this is better, no?”

“I suppose,” Professor Lauda said. “Come and find me at lunch and I will have a list ready for you.”

“Thank you, sir,” Felipe said. “And, you know, it might be a good idea if I look after the Hyperball too.”

“Don’t push your luck.”

 

Muggle Studies consisted mostly of watching a muggle sports game called football. Professor Hunt told them how to set up a television – something Dan was an expert at – and they sat for the rest of the period watching men run around in a field and kick a ball about, much to the muddle born students’ – and Professor Hunt’s – delight.

“I think I found a class I’m going to pass!” Dan said as they left the classroom.

“I heard they only set Muggle Studies to give the mud bloods a chance here,” Jev muttered behind them.

“Yeah, well, it’s a muggle’s world out there, mate,” Dan said, grinning as he lead Hanna and Sebastian down the stairs to their next lesson. Or leading Hanna, as Sebastian fell back.

“You leave us alone, alright?”

“Or what?” Jev sneered.

“Or you’ll be sorry,” Sebastian said.

He was on the step below and Jev towered over him, but he wasn’t backing down.

“What are you going to do?” Jev asked. “Run off to Horner?”

“Right that’s enough,” Professor Hunt called. “You’ve got lessons to go to, now go.”

Jev glared at Sebastian, but brushed past him on his way down the stairs, followed by the rest of the class.

“You don’t make it easy on yourself, do you kid?” Professor Hunt said, returning to his classroom to finish the game.

 

Rob had had a full day of lessons, but still agreed to go to the library with Felipe and go through the list Professor Lauda had given him.

It was a multiple choice written exam, only an hour long, but the amount of material Lauda was proposing they cover was insane and Rob got the feeling there was no way Felipe was going to pass this exam even if he did give a shit about studying.

“Right,” Rob said, still struggling to find somewhere to begin.

“There’s no Muggle Studies on there,” Felipe said. “That’s not fair. I’m good at that.”

“That’s the only subject you _are_ good at,” Rob mumbled, looking through the list again.

“That’s not true,” Felipe said.

“I take it you’ve given up football after this summer,” Rob said.

“Shut up.”

“What?”

“I do not want to even hear it,” Felipe said, ignoring the grin on Rob’s face.

“What?”

“I know what you are thinking and I do not want to hear it,” Felipe said. “Come on, pick something to start with. We do not have all night.”

“Maybe Lauda was trying to save you,” Rob said.

“Shut up.”

“Question one: by how many goals-?”

“Shut up shut up shut up shut up shut – I am not listening to you.”

“Aright, I’ll stop,” Rob laughed. Finally, he had something to threaten Felipe with. “Erm, we’ll start with Transfiguration then. Start there and work our way round to Care For Magical creature. Lauda will probably focus there.”

“If you say so,” Felipe muttered, still annoyed at Rob.

 

Kimi caught up with Sebastian at dinner, where he was joining the Hufflepuff table again. Dan and Hanna moved over a little so Kimi could sit opposite Sebastian, who was staring into his soup and didn’t even seem to notice Kimi had sat down at all until the Finn cleared his throat. Then all he did was roll his eyes and turn back to the soup.

“What is the matter now?” Kimi asked.

“He’s not very good at ignoring people,” Dan said, quietly.

He couldn’t be sure what exactly had happened when he had taken Hanna down the stairs, assuming Sebastian was following behind him. The only account he’d heard was Jev’s, laughing about it very loudly to his friends at the back of their History Of Magic class. Sebastian wouldn’t talk about it.

“What did you do?” Kimi asked.

There was no reply from Sebastian again and Kimi sighed.

“If you do not tell me I will go to see Nico,” Kimi threatened. “I am sure he will be able to sort things out for you.”

“Don’t,” Sebastian warned.

“Tell me what happened.”

“Nothing happened,” Sebastian insisted. “I just asked Jev to stop. And he won’t. Professor Hunt thought it was more than it was. That’s all.”

“And you are sure?”

“Yes.”

“Then why are you like this?” Kimi asked.

“Like what?”

Kimi took the soup from Sebastian, forcing the younger boy to look at him. Dan and Hanna watched curiously from the side.

“It’s always me, isn’t it,” Sebastian said, shrugging. “It just is. Professor Hunt was right.”

“Right about what?” Kimi asked.

“I bring this on myself.”


	9. Secret Meeetings and Stuff

Things carried on in the same manner for the rest of the first week: Sebastian doing his best to ignore Jev and managing to stay out of trouble somehow; Felipe and Bruno refusing to take anything seriously and winding Fernando up; Valtteri barely dragged out of the library to come and hang out with his friends on the rare occasions he wasn’t in a lesson.

There were, thankfully, no explosions or major disturbances, other than when half the Gryffindor common room disappeared on Thursday evening, _completely by accident_ , and nobody could find Professor Lauda to fix it for more than half an hour. Other than _that_ , the first week at Hogwarts had been an uneventful one.

Fernando was glad the weekend had finally arrived. When people said “be prepared for O.W.Ls”, they didn’t really express how prepared one needed to be, and Fernando and the rest of the fifth years were already snowed under with homework.

“I don’t know how we’re supposed to cope with all this and do anything else?” Jenson said, flicking through scrolls of parchment to try to find the essay on the importance of newts in medical potions he’d started.

“We should apply to get a time turner or something,” Fernando said. “Would be a lot easier.”

Just one more hour in the day would make everything a lot easier.

“I would need more than that,” Jenson said. “I would need a couple of days more every week to keep on top of this. How is Mark doing?”

“Don’t even mention him,” Fernando grumbled.

“Why? You two haven’t had a row, have you?” Jenson asked, looking up from the pile of scrolls. “You haven’t.”

“No, do not be stupid,” Fernando said. “But he is trying to. Tells me every morning I should have been working the night before. Is such a know it all. Is coping fine.”

Of course. He always was.

“What about Nico?”

“Dunno,” Jenson muttered. His face had gone bright red and he’d gone back to looking through the scrolls for his essay. “Why would I know how well Nico is doing?”

Fernando smirked, watching Jenson’s cheeks brighten.

“Wish you would shut up about us,” Jenson said.

“Oh, so there _is_ an ‘us’?” Fernando said, grinning.

“Don’t be so childish,” Jenson snapped. “There’s nothing going on between Nico and me and I wish you would stop saying there is.”

“Suit yourself,” Fernando said, knowingly. The meeting in the showers was that night and he was looking forward to catching Jenson and Nico red handed so they would be forced to tell the truth. “Got many names for the try out?”

“A fair few,” Jenson said, finally finding the piece of work he was looking for. “Why?”

“Just want to see what I’m up against,” Fernando said, but Jenson knew that wasn’t the reason. Fernando was his best friend and would end up on the team no matter what, and they both knew it.

“Nando?”

“I just wanted to know what competition they’ll be,” Fernando said, trying to sound innocent, but failing. Jenson didn’t miss his eyes flick across the room to Felipe and Bruno, who were talking among themselves and seemed to be paying them no attention.

“I can’t keep someone on the team just because it’ll please you,” Jenson pointed out.

“I would never ask you to,” Fernando said. “Not that I wouldn’t mind.”

“Have you tried speaking to them?” Jenson asked. “They are capable of that, you know.”

Fernando glared at him. Yes, he’d tried speaking to them, and they all knew how that had worked out.

Felipe and Bruno couldn’t care less about Fernando judging them from across the common room. There was a much bigger issue at hand.

“I don’t know why you don’t want to come,” Bruno said. “Unless you’re chicken.”

Felipe rolled his eyes. “It is not that I do not _want_ to come,” he said. “I just do not see why _you_ want me to come.”

“Why wouldn’t I?” Bruno asked.

“Have never wanted me to hang around with you and your new _friend_ before,” Felipe pointed out.

“That isn’t true,” Bruno said. It _was_ , but Felipe had no proof of that.

Felipe just shook his head, unconvinced. He was pretty sure it was no coincident Bruno didn’t call Karun over to the Gryffindor table when they were eating together and only hung out with him after checking Felipe had a meeting with Rob.

“Do not know why you do not want me to talk to him,” Felipe said. “It’s not as if I’m going to ruin your chances. Or steal him off of you.”

It was Bruno’s turn to sigh and rolled his eyes. He didn’t believe that either. “Are you coming to the Forbidden Forest or not?”

“For sure.” He wasn’t about to say no and Bruno knew it.

“They’re planning something,” Fernando muttered, watching the fourth years. “I know it.”

“World domination probably,” Jenson said. “What have you put for the essay on the newts?”

 

Nico was watching the Slytherin common room from over the top of his text book. He couldn’t keep his attention on the philosophy of modern day curses that he was supposed to be reading ahead on, his focus draw to the other students in the common room.

The first week hadn’t been so bad, and most of the first years had settled in to life at Hogwarts. There were a couple of home sick students, but he had left them to Vivian, the other Slytherin prefect in his year. She was better at that kind of thing than he was.

Nico had been watching Sebastian, like Kimi had asked. The Finn was definitely right. Though nobody in the Slytherin house was _really_ the stereotypical Slytherin, Sebastian was as far from that as was possible to get, and other students, particularly Jev, had picked up on that. Nothing had happened yet, bar the stink bomb incident that Nico was certain was Jev’s doing, though he had no proof.

Sebastian wasn’t back yet, though, still in his meeting with Professor Horner. Jev sat with a group of first years, not the centre of attention, but adding to the conversation every now and again.

There was nothing to worry about, and Nico turned back to his text book, hoping this time he would be able to focus.

As soon as Sebastian arrived, the group of first years fell silent and Nico looked up. The German stood by the entrance, waiting for things to return to normal. Without paying him too much attention, the first years went back to their conversation – something to do with Quidditch teams – and Sebastian crossed the common room to go to the dormitories without saying anything.

“Teacher’s pet.”

The comment came from one of Jev’s minions as Sebastian reached the door to the dormitory staircase. Sebastian just sighed and shut his eyes. He wasn’t going to get into an argument here. Not whilst there were no teachers about to save him.

“What’s up?” Jev asked, following him down the stairs. Sebastian didn’t have to look around to know the others were following too.

“Nothing,” Sebastian said. “Just need to dump these downstairs.”

“Here,” Jev offered. “Let me carry them for you.”

“No, I’m alright,” Sebastian said, pulling his bag up from where it was slipping off of his shoulder.

“Let me help,” Jev said, pulling the bag from Sebastian. “Let’s have a look what you got in here, Sebbie. What’s Horner got you doing, now you’re some potions master?”

“Give it here,” Sebastian demanded, tugging at Jev’s sleeve when the other boy turned away from him.

“This looks like some advanced stuff,” Jev observed, flicking through one of the textbooks Professor Horner had leant Sebastian. “Now why would he let a scrawny little blood traitor like you-?”

“Give it _back_.”

“-take a book like this? Unless you stole it.”

“Give it him back,” Nico called from the top of the stairs, making the small crowd that had formed scatter and disperse.

Sebastian groaned silently. He couldn’t go one day without getting into trouble.

Jev dropped the bag and pushed the book towards Sebastian, making to go back up the stairs, but Nico stopped him.

“What did I tell you at the beginning of the week?” he asked. “Did not think I would have to tell you again.”

“Sorry,” Jev muttered, trying to make his way past Nico, but the German blocked his way again.

“This has got to stop,” Nico warned. “For everybody’s sake.”

 

“Where are you off to?” Fernando asked, as if he didn’t know.

Jenson jumped. He’d thought the common room was empty and didn’t notice Fernando sat by the fire with his Charms textbook out.

“Shower,” Jenson explained, nodding to the towel he was taking with him.

“Bit late for that, isn’t it?”

Jenson shrugged. “Suppose. But you got to have a shower at some point.”

“How long will you be gone for?” Fernando asked.

“I don’t know,” Jenson said, frowning at the strange question. “Why do you need to know?”

Fernando shrugged. “Curfew soon. Do not want to get in trouble for knowing you are out of bed.”

“I won’t be too late,” Jenson said. “Don’t worry.”

Fernando waited a couple of minutes after Jenson had gone before getting up himself. He shoved the textbook back under the sofa – there wasn’t enough time to take it back upstairs and he didn’t want to wake anyone up – and followed Jenson out of the common room.

He was just hoping Mark had remembered. He’d reminded the Australian before they left dinner when Jenson and Nico’s meeting was, but that didn’t mean he was going to show up.

As Fernando turned the corner onto the corridor of the Prefect’s showers, he spotted Mark, hiding behind a statue opposite the room. After checking that nobody was watching him, Fernando ducked behind the statue to join him.

“Nico’s not there yet,” he said. “Unless he got here really early, but I don’t think that’s happened.”

Fernando was grinning like an idiot. He didn’t know why he was so excited about this, but he just wanted proof that he was right.

“What exactly are you planning, Fer?” Mark asked, a little worried about what the grin on his face meant.

“Nothing,” Fernando said. “I just want proof I am right.”

“Do you think they’re going to appreciate that?” Mark asked.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“All I’m saying is they’re our mates,” Mark pointed out. “I don’t want us alienating them, alright? We still need to be friends at the end of this.”

“Of course we will be friends,” Fernando said, as if this was a crazy thing to suggest. “Trust me, Mark. I know what I am doing.”

 

Jenson was waiting for about fifteen minutes before the door opened and Nico slipped into the bathroom. The room was silent but for the dripping of a leaky pipe somewhere Jenson couldn’t see. He grinned when Nico came in, waving him over. There was nobody else there, but Nico was still a little nervous.

“What took you so long?” Jenson asked.

“First years,” Nico said.

Jenson just grinned, his hands on Nico’s hips when he leaned down to press a kiss against his lips.

“Been looking forward to this all week,” Jenson said.

“Don’t get any ideas,” Nico said.

“I’m not, don’t worry,” Jenson laughed, pulling Nico to sit down on one of the benches with him. “I told Nando I would be back soon anyway. He’s worried about curfew.”

“If Dad catches either of us out after curfew,” Nico said, suddenly tense again.

“He won’t,” Jenson said, kissing Nico again. “Stop worrying.”

“I knew it!” Fernando cried triumphantly, crashing into the room with as much grace as an elephant. He was bouncing and pointing as if he was a two year old. “I knew it!”

“Fernando,” Nico said, darting away from Jenson. “What are you doing here?”

The tops of his cheeks had gone bright pink which Jenson would have found both adorable and hilarious had he not been fuming himself.

“I knew it!” Fernando said again in a sing song voice, very proud of himself for his spying abilities.

“Happy now?” Jenson snapped. He wanted to put his arm around Nico, to protect him, but he didn’t think the German would appreciate it much right now. Instead he stood with his hands on his hips, glaring at Fernando.

“Yes,” Fernando said. “Oh, why didn’t you tell me? Am so happy for you.”

“We didn’t tell you because we didn’t want you to know,” Jenson said, stepping away from Fernando when the Spaniard tried to pat him on the back.

“No need to get so angry,” Mark said from where he watched in the doorway. He hadn’t really wanted to come in, but Fernando had insisted on it.

“Should have known you would be here and all,” Jenson muttered.

“Oh, come on,” Mark said. “What are we going to do? Alright, you want to keep it a secret. Fine. We can do that.”

“You couldn’t keep your noses out though, could you?” Jenson said. He glanced over at Nico to make sure if he was ok. Nico had his eyes closed with his hands bunched into fists at his side, taking deep breaths to keep himself calm. “Can you just go?”

“What’s wrong?” Fernando asked, only now realising just how annoyed his friend was. “We did not do anything wrong. _You_ were the ones keeping secrets.”

“Get out!”

“I told you,” Mark muttered, pulling Fernando out of the bathroom before he could make things even worse. “You better have a plan to make this better.”


	10. Stuff

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My motivation for this story at the moment is about 6/50. When I was writing this chapter it was about 2/50. The classic case of "there's good stuff, but it's just not happening yet". So this chapter isn't really all that good, but hopefully things will get better.

“Felipe?” Rob called. “Are you listening?”

It was Sunday afternoon and they’d been at it for hours. Or Rob had been, trying to explain the basic concepts to his student, but it didn’t look like anything was going in.

He tapped his wand on the notes Felipe was supposed to be looking at, making the Brazilian blink in surprise.

“Felipe?”

“Huh?”

“This is hopeless,” Rob said. “You can’t pay attention for more than five minutes.”

“I can,” Felipe argued. _Just not to the things you want me to be paying attention to_.

“What did I just say?” Rob said, testing him with his arms crossed. He didn’t believe for a second that Felipe would even be able to tell him what subject they had been working on.

“You asked if I was listening,” Felipe said.

Rob rolled his eyes. He felt like he spent half the sessions asking that. It wasn’t much of a miracle he’d managed to guess that.

“And before that?”

“Probably something else you have already said twelve times,” Felipe said.

Rob rolled his eyes. That was also true. Midway through the year before he’d given up pointing out that, if Felipe actually listened to him the first time round, he wouldn’t have to repeat himself so much.

“Basic charms Felipe,” Rob said. “Come on. Why do wand movements matter as much as incantations?”

Felipe shrugged. “Do they?”

“This is second year stuff, Felipe,” Rob said, putting the textbook down.

“So why will it come up?” Felipe asked.

“Anything from the past three years can come up,” Rob said. “How did you even get this far?”

Felipe shrugged. He didn’t know the answer to that question, either.

“You know, Valtteri got ninety six per cent average on his exams last year,” Rob said. “You should probably go and ask him for his help on this.”

Felipe rolled his eyes. Of course Valtteri had done well. That wasn’t really much of a surprise.

“It is your job to help me,” Felipe pointed out. “Do not really care how well _Valtteri_ did. Just need to pass this exam.”

“You wouldn’t need to pass if you’d listened to me last year,” Rob pointed out.

Felipe rolled his eyes.

“Maybe it would be a good idea if you wasn’t on the quidditch team,” Rob said. “Actually focus on studying this year instead of some stupid sport.”

“Is not stupid,” Felipe cut in. Rob didn’t understand. He was awful at flying and had long since given up even bothering to try. “Anyway, I cannot just _quit_. Am not going to get anywhere professionally if I do not play.”

“That’s not seriously still your career plan,” Rob said.

“And why not?” Felipe asked. “Just because you are no good at it.”

“You need to think about a proper job,” Rob instructed him. “Not flying around on sticks and smacking balls into people.”

“I smack balls _away_ from people,” Felipe corrected him, though he knew Rob didn’t really care about the technicalities.

“When it suits you,” Rob muttered. “Anyway… charms.”

“I have no interest in any of this,” Felipe said. He wasn’t going to let Rob leave this. Sure, maybe it wasn’t the most certain career path in the world, but it was the one he had chosen to take and he was not going to let Rob put him down for it. “I know what I want to do and I’m going to do it.”

“Don’t you have, you know, a back up plan?”

“Having a back up plan is admitting defeat,” Felipe said. It was the same argument he’d told his father, and his uncles. They all wanted him to take a nice quiet little job in the ministry, but he wasn’t. He couldn’t.

“And how do you figure that one out?”

“Easy,” Felipe said. “You are admitting that what you hope to do might not be possible. I won’t do that. I’m going to make sure this happens or I am going to die trying.”

“You’re mad,” Rob said.

“Maybe,” Felipe said. “Does not matter. Are you going to help me pass this exam or not?”

 

Jenson hadn’t spoken to Fernando all morning. He hadn’t spoken to anybody much, glaring at anyone who tried to interact with him whilst he tried to write his essay for potions. Fernando and Mark watched him sat in the library, where there was little chance of anyone talking to him.

“You’ve got to sort this out, Nando,” Mark muttered, pretending to point out something in his Herbology text book to Fernando.

“Am going to,” Fernando said, though he wasn’t entirely sure how if Jenson wasn’t even going to talk to him.

He hadn’t thought Jenson would react like that. They were all friends. What was so bad about knowing they were going out? It wasn’t as if they had been keeping it a very good secret anyway.

It was only the day after, though, and Fernando figured he’d probably calm down after having a couple of days to cool off. They just needed to wait until then.

“I told you this was going to happen.”

“Oh do not start with the I told you so about this as well,” Fernando said, shuffling his chair away from Mark’s a little and peering at his own textbook when the librarian looked in their direction.

“I’m only trying to help,” Mark said.

“Yes but it is not working,” Fernando muttered, glancing up at Jenson just as Jenson glanced in their direction. He smiled weakly, hoping Jenson would do the same, but the Brit just turned back to his own work and carried on trying to ignore them.

“Are we really going to argue over this?” Mark asked, but there was a laugh in his voice and when Fernando turned to his boyfriend, he found Mark grinning. “What’s the plan and I’ll help.”

“Wait and see what happens,” Fernando said. He hadn’t gotten as far as planning for if Jenson didn’t calm down. That wasn’t going to happen.

“Is that all.”

“Yep.”

“Have you tried apologising?”

“Will not listen to me,” Fernando said.

Mark took that as a ‘no’.

“Go and tell him you’re sorry,” Mark said. “If you tell him enough times, he might believe you.”

“Will not listen to me,” Fernando said again.

“Go and tell him now,” Mark said, pushing Fernando out of the chair. “It won’t take five seconds. Go on.”

Fernando groaned a little too loudly, attracting a glare from the librarian, but sat opposite Jenson like Mark wanted him to. Jenson didn’t look up from his work.

“Jense?”

“This is stupid,” Fernando said. “Are not going to fall out with me over one little thing, are you?”

Mark felt like slamming his head against the table. If this was how he’d apologised before it was no wonder Jenson wasn’t listening.

“It wasn’t a little thing though, was it?” Jenson hissed, still not looking up from his books. “It’s the biggest thing in my life right now. I don’t think Nico’s ever going to speak to me again, so well done, Nando. Piss off back to your own boyfriend.”

“Do not be like this, Jenson,” Fernando tried. “Thought we were friends.”

“Friends respect each other,” Jenson muttered.

“I respect you,” Fernando tried.

“You _spied_ on me,” Jenson said. “And _then_ you humiliated me. And Nico.”

“Did not mean to humiliate you,” Fernando tried. “Just did not want you to keep secrets from me. Do not know why you were anyway.”

“Exactly,” Jenson cried, receiving an angry _shush_ from the librarian for it. “You don’t understand Nando, so why don’t you just leave me and Nico alone.”

Jenson collected his things together and hurried out of the library, ignoring the feeble wave from Mark on his way past. Fernando returned to sit beside Mark again.

“You see?” he asked. “This is why I say we should just leave him.”

 

Sebastian, Hanna, and Dan were exploring. They’d turned down Kimi’s offer to actually show them around the castle, thinking it far more fun to discover things for themselves. Only, now, they were lost. Dan was pretty sure they were on the third floor, Hanna thought the fourth. Sebastian had no idea and just wanted to go and get something to eat.

“There’s got to be someone around here who knows the way back to the stairs,” Sebastian muttered, following Dan and Hanna as they marched down yet another corridor. “Maybe we should just go back the way we came.”

“We _are_ going back the way we came,” Hanna said.

“I don’t remember walking down here,” Sebastian said, confused.

“See?” Dan said, triumphantly, but Sebastian had no idea what he had just won. “I told you, we should have turned left back there.”

“That would have gotten us even more lost,” Hanna said. “I know where I’m going. Just follow me.”

Hanna quickened her pace and Dan fell back to walk beside Sebastian. “She doesn’t know where we’re going at all.”

“To be fair, I trust her over you,” Sebastian said. Dan had gotten them lost at least once a day so far that week. Sebastian wasn’t entirely sure this was his fault – it was Sebastian who decided to go this way in the first place – but the day wasn’t over yet.

They turned again and Sebastian was sure they were just going in circles now, and Hanna ran straight into a fourth year coming out of a broom cupboard.

“Watch it,” Valtteri snapped, shoving something into his pocket.

“You were the one bursting out of broom cupboards,” Hanna snapped, a little annoyed and embarrassed. “Wait, is that a time turner?”

“A what?” Dan asked, confused, as Valtteri’s hand slipped and what he was trying to shove into his pocket fell into the floor.

“It _is_ ,” Hanna said, picking it up. “A time turner. Where did you get it?”

“Give it here,” Valtteri said. He was going to be late to his meeting with Professor Williams and he that really wasn’t going to help when he tried to convince his head of house he was coping fine.

“It can make you go back in time,” Hanna said. “Where did you get it?”

Valtteri snatched back the time turner and pushed it into his pocket. “Does not matter.”

“ _Time travel_ ,” Dan cried. “Like Back To The Future? Or Doctor Who? Shit, there are no aliens, are there?”

“What is he talking about?” Valtteri asked, confused, but he shook his head before the enthusiastic first year could share his knowledge of muggle science fiction. “Does not matter. You cannot tell anybody about this.”

“Why?” Sebastian asked, suspiciously.

“Because,” Valtteri said. He was going to be late and he wouldn’t have had enough time to explain to a bunch of first years the dangers of time travel even if he didn’t have somewhere to go.

“And what do we get?” Hanna asked.

Valtteri rolled his eyes. The girl was wearing Hufflepuff robes but she sounded like she belonged in Slytherin.

“Would tutor you, if you want,” Valtteri said. It was the only thing he really had to offer, bar the time turner, but there was no way Professor Williams would allow that and all four of them would be expelled.

“That’s a shit bribe,” Hanna said.

“Learning more magic?” Dan asked. “That doesn’t sound shit to me. Hey, maybe we could learn something to make Jev shut up.”

“You are being bullied?” Valtteri asked.

“It’s not bullying,” Sebastian tried to say, but Dan was already nodding.

“Think I could maybe help you with that,” Valtteri said. “Meet me at dinner. I cannot talk now. I am going to be late.”

 

Nico fell onto the grass beside Jenson, holding his head in his hands. Jenson looked up. He’d decided to get some work done sat at the edge of the Great Lake, hoping Fernando and Mark wouldn’t find him here. It had worked so far, but Jenson didn’t trust them to not be following Nico.

“Are you alright?” he asked, softly.

Nico nodded, but his head was still in his hands. “How could we have been so stupid?”

“It won’t happen again,” Jenson promised, rubbing soothing circles into Nico’s back. “Has your dad heard about it?”

“No, thank god,” Nico said, finally pulling his hands away from his face. He didn’t look at Jenson though, looking out across the Great Lake to the horizon, wishing the water would swallow him up. “Have you spoken to Fernando and Mark?”

“Not yet,” Jenson said. Nico didn’t need to know about what had happened in the library. Fernando was just being his usual self, not understanding a thing. “I’ll talk to Mark later.” Hopefully the Australian would be easier to get through to, but Jenson didn’t want to try talking to him whilst Fernando was there.

“Might be a good idea,” Nico said, quietly. “And to make sure they do not tell anyone.”

“I don’t think they’re going to do that,” Jenson said. That was one thing he was glad for. Fernando had only wanted to prove himself right. He wasn’t going to tell anybody else.

“But still,” Nico said. “Would be good to make sure.”

“Of course,” Jenson said. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

“Yeah,” Nico said, leaning into Jenson when the Brit put his arm around him. “Just worried.”

“They’re our friends,” Jenson said, running his hand through Nico’s hair. “Supposedly. They wouldn’t do anything to hurt us.”

“Maybe,” Nico mumbled, still gazing out into the distance. He shivered, cooler air rolling off of the lake, and moved a little closer to Jenson. “I wish we could just tell people.”

“I know,” Jenson said, gently. “One day we will. Don’t worry.”


	11. More Toads

By the time lessons started again on Monday, Fernando felt like he was even more snowed under with all his work than he had been at the beginning of the weekend, if that was possible.

Jenson was still making a point of not speaking to him, but Fernando had long since given up caring, having more important things to deal with, which only seemed to annoy Jenson even more, even if he was trying to pretend he was happy with the arrangement.

Jenson had completely thrown himself into getting things sorted for the try outs over the weekend, also falling further behind in the school work. He’d catch up eventually, he figured. Right now he just needed to focus on something that wasn’t going to annoy him any more than he already was.

The air in the Defence Against The Dark Arts class on Monday morning was cold, to say the least. Jenson kept glancing between Nico and his father whist they went through a theory session. They’d lasted the weekend without him finding out. Maybe this wasn’t going to be as bad as they thought it would be.

Exactly ten minutes before the lesson was about to end, the entire room – the entire castle – shook, and everybody froze, silent for a couple of seconds before chatter that Professor Rosberg had no control over erupted in the classroom. Telling the students to stay where they were and finish the chapter, the teacher, like every other teacher in the corridor, went to see what had happened.

Nico nudged Jenson, nodding towards Mark and Fernando.

“Not now,” Jenson mumbled.

“Then when?”

“Just leave it to me,” Jenson said, and received a kick under the table for doing so.

“Now.”

Jenson groaned loudly but leaned forward anyway, tapping Mark on the back.

“What?” Mark asked, spinning around on his stool.

“The other night,” Jenson began but, before he could come up with anything else to say, a toad fell from the ceiling, landing on his face before hopping onto the desk. Nico jerked away from it, only for another to land on his lap.

Fernando groaned. Here we go again.

 

First year charms was cancelled so Professor Schumacher could help sort out the raining toads issue, and Sebastian, Dan, and Hanna had retreated back to a quiet little corner of the castle they had found over the weekend.

“Do you really think Bottas will teach us something cool?” Dan asked, flicking his wand at nothing in the hope it would do something.

“He said he would,” Sebastian said. He was trying to play cool, but he was just as excited as Dan was about the possibility of learning something that would shut Jev up. As long as nobody found out about it, but he didn’t think the fourth year would really want the cause of his tutoring sessions advertised.

“I still think we could have gotten something better,” Hanna said, disappointed.

“Like what?” Dan asked. “Oh, if he could teach us to fly that would be awesome. Can you imagine?”

He stopped flicking his wand, caught up in the fantasy until Sebastian nudged his shoulder.

“I thought you were scared of heights,” he said.

“Yeah, well, I _am_ ,” Dan said. “When you pretend to push me out of a window a billion floors up, but when you got a broom and you know how to fly then you can stop yourself falling, can’t you?”

“Not flying lessons,” Hanna said, bored. “I don’t know what. Something cooler.”

“You want a trip with the time turner?” Sebastian asked.

“What use would I have of that?” Hanna asked, innocently.

“Dunno,” Sebastian admitted. “But it would be pretty cool. What do you think he uses it for?”

“Probably studying,” Dan said. “He looked like a bit of a nerd.”

“Could use it to get back at Jev,” Sebastian said.

“And how exactly would you do that?” Hanna said as if he were stupid. The more Sebastian thought about it, the stupider the comment had been, but he wasn’t taking it back.

“Somehow,” Sebastian said.

“Do you know what I would do?” Dan asked. “You know when they’re giving out free pizza, and there’s a huge line? I would go back so I got there before there was a line.”

“That’s the most… practical use of a time turner I’ve ever heard,” Sebastian said.

“See, I’m not just a pretty face,” Dan said, grinning.

“A time turner would be useful though,” Hanna said. “We should have tried for that.”

“Nah, he wouldn’t have let us have that,” Dan said. “I wouldn’t let anyone near one if I had one.”

“In case of pizza emergencies?” Hanna asked.

“I think he’s right,” Sebastian said. “Wouldn’t have parted with it. We could go and get it ourselves, though.”

 

“I am going to kill them,” Fernando muttered.

The usual phrase made Jenson laughed even though he knew he shouldn’t. Fernando glared at him.

“Is not funny,” he spat.

“Hey, calm down,” Mark said, pulling Fernando into a hug and dragging him away from the fight he was going to start with Jenson. “Come on. You can deal with it at the end of the day.”

“Mark?” Jenson called after them. He hadn’t been laughing _at_ Fernando. And he didn’t understand how he’d suddenly become the bad guy when it was the two of _them_ in the wrong.

“Not now, mate,” Mark called back, hurrying away.

Jenson sighed and turned to Nico with a shrug. “I tried.”

Nico shook his head, taking Jenson’s hand and dragging him off of the Defence Against The Dark Arts corridor so they could talk.

“We are going to need to tell him.”

“Who?”

“Dad.”

“No,” Jenson said. He didn’t know why Nico had suddenly changed his mind – it couldn’t be that Fernando and Mark had changed it so easily when Nico had been so dead set against the idea for so long – but he was going to make sure Nico saw sense before he did something stupid.

“He is going to find out sooner or later,” Nico said.

“Yes,” Jenson said. “And I would rather later. Preferably when I’ve left school. I thought that was what you wanted. It was you telling me this less than a week ago.”

“I know,” Nico said. “But surely it is better coming from us than it is coming from Fernando and Mark.”

“Fernando and Mark aren’t going to tell anyone,” Jenson promised. “They just wouldn’t.”

“Ok,” Nico said. “Say we believe that. But then who else finds out if they found out so easily? And then _they_ tell people. It will be out of our control.”

“Yes, but we’re not going to let anyone find out,” Jenson murmured, taking Nico’s hand and rubbing circles into the back of it with his thumb. “Nobody is going to find out and nobody is going to tell your dad.”

Nico rolled his eyes and pulled his hand away from Jenson. He clearly didn’t believe that at all.

“We thought we were being careful before,” he said.

“Yeah but we weren’t,” Jenson said. “And this time we will make sure. I promise.”

Nico sighed. “I’ll figure out a way of telling dad. One where he doesn’t kill you.”

“Do you really think there is a way?” Jenson asked. “You didn’t last week. What’s changed?”

“I realised we were being idiots.”

“How long have we kept this a secret?” Jenson asked. “Come on, Nico. All this time and only two people have found out. Nobody else is going to find out, at least until we’ve finished school. And then who cares who knows?”

“If I come up with a way that does not end up with you dead, will you go along with it?” Nico asked.

Jenson sighed. “If you come up with a way, we’ll talk about it.”

 

“How – when you can’t even get forty per cent on you end of year – can you make it rain frogs?” Rob asked, dragging Felipe away from Bruno and Karun on their way to the Great Hall.

Felipe smirked, shaking his hand out of Rob’s grip. “Are not frogs,” he said. “Are toads. And I do not know what you are talking about.”

“Of course not,” Rob said. “If you put as much effort into your studies as you did practical jokes, you’d be as good as Valtteri.”

“Oh, so Valtteri is a unit of measurement now?” Felipe spat, marching away from Rob.

“What?”

“Do not have time to listen to you, Rob,” Felipe called, shrugged Rob away when he caught up. “Have to go and eat my vegetables so I can be as tall as Valtteri too.”

Rob stopped, confused. That made no sense.

There was no point letting Felipe drag him into a conversation about the difference between frogs and toads, though, so he left the fourth year to catch up with his friends and went to sit at his own table.

“I don’t get how you did it though,” Karun was saying when Felipe caught up with them. “Or why?”

“Why not?” Bruno said, loading his plate up with food. He grinned, pleased with Karun’s reaction. The new student hadn’t been directly involved with the plan, but had played a look out, and done his job well. If it wasn’t for the fact that it was always Felipe and Bruno pulling these kinds of stunts, nobody would have known they were behind it.

“You must have broken about a dozen school rules,” Karun said.

“Thought you said he was not a goodie two shoes,” Felipe said, sitting down opposite the pair.

“The rule against making toads rain from the ceiling was only introduced at the end of last year,” Bruno said. “We can say we forgot about it.”

“There’s actually a rule?” Karun asked.

“They thought there was demand for one,” Bruno said, tucking into his food. “Don’t worry. We will not let them know you had anything to do with it.”

“And we’re still on for Wednesday?”

“ _Yes_ ,” Bruno said. “Stop worrying.” He grinned, dumping an extra potato onto his plate. “Eat your food before someone comes and moans at us and we have to make a run for it.”

 

Valtteri was sat with Susie and Claire for lunch, but he’d barely eaten anything and the girls were both too engrossed in their own conversation to notice. He pushed his food about his plate, but his mind was clearly elsewhere.

Claire and Susie had both long since given up on trying to involve Valtteri in conversations and knew, if the Finn had anything else to add, he would add it without needing any invitation.

“You have to show me around properly,” Susie said. “I want a guided tour of the village. Not just the inside of the pub.”

“Yes, _alright_ ,” Claire laughed. She hadn’t seen Susie this excited about anything in ages. “If you don’t calm down, you’re not going to make it to Wednesday.”

“I think I’m going to explode.”

“I noticed.”

She was grinning too but she couldn’t stop the smile from falling when she noticed Valtteri pushing his food about. She knew he wasn’t happy about being dragged to Hogsmeade, but it was one day and he couldn’t spend all his time studying. It wasn’t healthy.

“It’ll be good,” Claire promised.

Valtteri just nodded. He was going to have to put some effort in on the day, he supposed. They were doing this for Susie and she’d only be upset if she thought he hadn’t enjoyed himself. He really didn’t know how he’d become friends with someone as enthusiastic about life as Susie but these things happened.

There was noise further along the table and Valtteri looked up to see Rob sit down with a group of sixth years. He smiled when Rob looked over and caught his eye, giving a small wave before quickly looking away.

Claire didn’t miss the blush in his cheeks. She bit her lip, trying to hide her own grin, or else Susie would notice too, and Valtteri definitely would not want that.

Luckily for the clearly love struck fourth year, the Hufflepuff didn’t notice, jumping up when some friends from her own year arrived before hurrying off with them.

“Valtteri?” Claire asked when the Finn didn’t even appear to notice Susie had gone.

“Yes?”

“What’s up?”

“Nothing.”

“Yes there is.”

“Nothing is up,” Valtteri said through gritted teeth but the tops of his cheeks were bright pink now and there was no way he could hide it.

“You like Rob,” Claire said.

“I don’t.”

“Oh really?” Claire laughed. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to tell anyone. But why don’t you… you know? Do something about it?”

“Ask him out?” Valtteri snorted. “Well, number one: I do not like him.”

“Ok, but let’s say you do, for argument’s sake” Claire said. “Come on, Val. I never see you happy. Don’t stop yourself if you think you have a chance.”

“But I don’t,” Valtteri said. “Rob only has eyes for…”

He glanced over Claire’s shoulder at the Gryffindor table. Not too subtly, Claire glanced back to see what Valtteri was looking at. It was immediately obvious.

“Felipe Massa?”

Valtteri nodded, looking down at his food.

“You think Rob likes Massa?” Claire asked.

“He does,” Valtteri said. “It doesn’t matter. Do not think Rob would like me even if he did not like Felipe. Not that I like him, of course.”

“Of course,” Claire said. “But Rob doesn’t like him. Jesus, the only time he mentions him is when he’s going on about how annoying the kid is. Tried to get me to take over tutoring for him.”

“Really?”

“Really,” Claire said. “You, on the other hand, he never shuts up about. Like, seriously, if Massa is the only thing stopping you with Rob, then just go for it, because I am ninety nine per cent sure that he is not something you should be worrying about.”


	12. Confusion Cleared

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is a little short.

Fernando arrived at try outs far earlier than he was due to, as he had agreed with Jenson before. Before the incident. Jenson still hadn’t found time to talk to Mark yet, much to Nico’s annoyance, and the last thing he really wanted was to have the same discussion with Fernando, knowing it was all just some joke to the Spaniard.

“What do you need me to do?” Fernando asked, cheerfully, as if nothing had happened.

“What are you doing here?” Jenson asked.

“You said you needed help, no?” Fernando said. “Have come to help?”

“You really think I still want help from you?” Jenson asked. Sometimes Fernando could be unbelievable. It was typical Fernando, though, and Jenson didn’t know why he expected anything else.

“Are you really going to be like this?” Fernando asked, following his friend as he stomped up the quidditch pitch. “I said sorry, didn’t I?”

“Did you?” Jenson asked, spinning around. He wasn’t even sure that was true.

“ _Yes_ ,” Fernando said. “And if I did not then I meant to.”

That counted for something in Fernando world, it seemed. Jenson just squeezed his eyes shut, in no mood to deal with him just now, and went to continue setting things up for the try outs.

Fernando watched him, not sure what he was supposed to do now. He’d told Mark he would sort it out and he was going to, but he’d thought Jenson would be a little more cooperative than this.

“Do not see what such the big deal is?” Fernando said, trying to get Jenson to just talk to him.

“I know you don’t, Fernando,” Jenson said through gritted teeth.

“So tell me,” Fernando said. “What is it that makes this so important?”

“I love him.”

“Well I guessed that,” Fernando said, flicking his wand in the direction of the brooms Jenson was trying to carry and waving them over to where they needed to be. Jenson just glared at him in thanks. “So what? You love him, and so you must keep this a secret?”

“Yes.”

“Does not make any sense,” Fernando said. “And even if it did, do not see why you could not tell me.”

“Because you don’t tell people secrets,” Jenson said.

“But I am your best friend,” Fernando pointed out, following Jenson as he made his way back to the store room, purposefully ignoring his “best friend”.

“Were,” Jenson corrected him.

“Are overreacting,” Fernando said. “I am trustworthy, no?”

“I couldn’t trust you not to spy on me,” Jenson pointed out.

“Would not have had to spy on you if you had told me the truth in the first place,” Fernando said. “Still do not understand, Jenson. Explain it to me.”

“If Nico’s dad finds out about this, I’m dead, alright?” Jenson said. “So just shut your mouth. Keep it shut. And let this go.”

Fernando stopped dead, letting Jenson go ahead to get whatever it was he needed out of the store cupboard. Finally, things started to make sense to him, and the frown of concentration neutralised with understanding.

“Am not going to tell anyone,” Fernando said, returning to walk at Jenson’s side as his friend made the return journey with half a dozen balls in his arms.

“Sure,” Jenson said.

“Am not,” Fernando insisted. “And neither is Mark.”

“And how do I know I can trust you?” Jenson asked, dumping the balls with the brooms Fernando had moved.

“I am your friend,” Fernando reminded him.

“Still spied on me though,” Jenson pointed out.

“Ok, this is one little thing,” Fernando said, again. “Or I thought it was a little thing. Did not realise how important it was you keep this a secret. And now I do.”

Jenson sighed. He didn’t want to give in so easily, but he knew Nico was never going to give up this idea of speaking to his father if he didn’t get things sorted out with Fernando.

“Fine,” he said. “If you still want to help I need to get the good balls from the office. Could you go and do that.”

“Sure thing, _captain_ ,” Fernando said, grinning, before skipping off to go and get the balls.

 

“And that’s all you really need to know about that,” Rob finished, looking up from the text book he’d been referring to. “Before lesson, of course. I’m sure Professor Williams will have _a lot_ more to say about it though.”

Valtteri was still making notes when Rob finished, trying to catch up. Rob watched him for a couple of seconds, what he was about to say blown from his mind for no apparent reason. By the time Valtteri looked up at him – noticing the silence – he was grinning.

“Are you ok?” Valtteri asked.

“Yeah… I… I’m fine,” Rob managed to spit out. What was wrong with him today? “Sorry. I’ve completely lost where I was.”

It must have been the shock at seeing a student making notes, he concluded. That made perfect sense.

“Is ok,” Valtteri said, glancing up at the clock on the wall behind Rob. “I should get going, though. Charms.”

“Yeah, of course,” Rob said, trying to help Valtteri pack his things away but, for some reason, his hand eye coordination had disappeared along with his memory and he just ended up throwing work everywhere. “Sorry.”

“You are sure you are ok?” Valtteri asked, looking up from the floor when he dropped to collect the things Rob had thrown about.

“Yeah,” Rob said, shaking his head. He was already going red with embarrassment. As carefully as possible, Rob tried to help the fourth year pick up the rolls of parchment from the floor, only to drop them almost immediately.

“Rob?”

“Maybe I should go to the hospital wing,” Rob joked. “See if there’s anything wrong with me.”

“Is worth a try,” Valtteri said, not noticing the joke.

“I’m fine, really,” Rob said, but he didn’t bother trying to help Valtteri with his things again, watching his student pack away alone. “Sorry about that.”

“Is ok,” Valtteri said, once he’d wrestled the parchment into his bulging bag. “Errr… Claire and I are taking Susie for a tour of Hogsmeade tomorrow.”

“That should be fun,” Rob said, although he couldn’t really picture Valtteri in the village.

“Yeah,” Valtteri said. “Was wondering if you wanted to come too?”

“Can’t,” Rob said, a little too quickly, making the blush return. “I mean, I’ve got Felipe tomorrow afternoon.”

“Oh, yeah, right,” Valtteri said, the pink tinge beginning to show on his own face. “Of course.”

“Maybe next time,” Rob suggested. “If they can drag you away from studying again.”

“Maybe,” Valtteri said, but he knew he was never going to offer it again. He quickly put his bag on his shoulder and hurried out of the library, almost knocking Bruno, who was making his way in, flying in his rush to get out.

Bruno spotted Felipe near the entrance to the library, his books out but, unsurprisingly, he wasn’t even looking at them. His wand was out and his attention was on Rob. Bruno sighed, glancing over at the Ravenclaw’s red face.

“What did you do?”

“Nothing,” Felipe said, innocently.

Bruno raised his eyebrows, sitting in the chair opposite Felipe and dragging his friend’s attention onto him.

“ _Nothing_ ,” Felipe insisted. “Has had a tutoring session with _Valtteri_.”

“Yeah, I saw him leave,” Bruno said. “What did you do?”

“Nothing,” Felipe lied, turning to the book he’d barely looked at since opening it. “Not really. Just… caused a little confusion.”

Bruno rolled his eyes, deciding it was better he didn’t really know what happened.

“You need to spend less time in the library,” he said, instead, tapping the book. “You’re going to get a reputation.”

“Did not even notice me,” Felipe mumbled. “ _Always_ notices me, but not when _Valtteri_ is about.”

“Are you still going on about that nerd?” Bruno asked. “Just leave him be. He’s not hurting anyone.”

“Rob likes him.”

“He doesn’t like him, Felipe. Come on. We should get to the quidditch pitch now before Fernando forces Jenson to give our spots to someone else.”

“Does like him,” Felipe grumbled. “Worships him. _Maybe you should be more like Valtteri_.”

“Oh, leave it be,” Bruno said, pulling Felipe out of his seat. “Like it even matters anyway. Valtteri is more concerned about books than boys. Come on. Let’s _go_.”

Felipe sighed and slammed the heavy book shut, finally getting the attention he wanted from Rob. He shoved the few things he’d gotten out to look like he was working into his bad, pretending to not notice Rob watching him, then let Bruno drag him to the quidditch pitch.


	13. Try Outs

There was a small group of students gathered on the pitch by the time Bruno and Felipe arrived, but they weren’t the last, and Jenson waited until after a few more third years showed up before beginning.

“Right,” he said, clearing his throat and waving his hands for everyone to be quiet. “Right, so, I’m Jenson. I’m captain. If any of you have any problems you can talk to me. If you’re weird and you don’t want to talk to me you can talk to Fernando. He’s my second in command. Now, just because you were on the team last year doesn’t mean you automatically make it onto the team this year. We want the best and it doesn’t matter whether you’re a first year or a sixth year, if you’re the best you’re on the team. Any questions so far.”

“Does being Professor Lauda’s golden boy guarantee you a spot on the team?” Felipe asked, receiving muffled sniggers from most of last year’s team and a glare from Lewis.

“No, it does not,” Jenson said. “Any more questions?”

There were no more serious questions, and Jenson got to reading the schedule of the day, starting with chasers, then moving onto beaters, keepers, then seekers (not that anybody but first years had any doubt in who would end up as seeker, no matter what Jenson said).

Jenson and Fernando took the chasers over to the other end of the pitch to begin the try outs. Realistically, as both of them were chasers, there was only one spot on the team, but Jenson was sure, if he found someone as good or better than Fernando, he wouldn’t have too much trouble replacing his so called best friend.

“I don’t know why anyone else even bothers to show up,” Lewis muttered to Sophie Henstock, last year’s keeper.

“I don’t know either,” Bruno piped up. “Maybe this year Jenson’s going for a “winning the season” approach.”

“Oh, and it’s _my_ fault we haven’t won now, is it?” Lewis asked.

“You said it,” Bruno said. To be fair to him, it wasn’t his fault. Last year’s captain had been a bad at choosing his team, leading to half of them, including the captain, being kicked off midseason. This year couldn’t go much worse, whatever Jenson chose to do.

Lewis, Bruno, and Felipe were the remained of the original team, and the pair of beaters were not going to take the blame for the team’s failure.

“There’s no purpose to beaters on the team anyway,” Lewis muttered, turning his back on the small group of unimpressed beater trialists to _try_ to continue his conversation with Sophie.

“Ha,” Felipe scoffed. “What about that time I got the bludger just before it hit you.”

“You hit me on the head,” Lewis cried. He remembered that day well, despite the concussion he suffered.

“Did you catch the snitch?”

“Yes.”

“Well then,” Felipe said, crossing his arms. “Would not have been able to with a broken arm.”

“Once, then,” Lewis said.

“What about the time I hit the bludger and it completely accidentally on purpose hit Hulkenberg and it gave you a chance to catch the snitch?” Bruno said.

“What about-.”

“Yes, _alright,_ I get it,” Lewis snapped, rolling his eyes. “They have a purpose but it’s not _important_. And a couple of lucky shots don’t count. You don’t win matches.”

“Why don’t we do a test?” Felipe asked. “You try to catch the snitch whilst we beat bludgers at you?”

“And what would that prove?” Lewis asked.

“That I know how to have fun,” Felipe said, cheerfully.

“Kids,” Lewis muttered, turning once again to Sophie, who looked a lot less comfortable talking to the team’s saviour than she had done before.

“Knows we are right but does not have an argument to prove it,” Bruno whispered to a second year trying out for a beater. He looked up, though, when he spotted someone coming over. “Karun!”

The Slytherin smiled his awkward smile, looking down at the floor whilst Bruno hurried over. He wasn’t even sure if he was allowed to be here, but Bruno had asked him to come at least fifteen times over the weekend, not that he was desperate or anything. He had insisted.

“Hey, no spies on the pitch!” Lewis called, receiving absolutely no answer from anyone, except Karun.

“I really don’t want to intrude,” he said, quietly. “I can go, if it’s going to cause trouble.”

“No, you will be fine,” Bruno said, trying not to laugh at Karun’s awkwardness as he steered the Slytherin towards the group of trialists. “Already cleared it with the captain.”

It was a lie, of course, but he knew Jenson would never have the heart to just throw someone out when they were already there. Karun was safe.

“You arrived just in time to see Lewis eat his words,” Felipe said.

“Are you still going on about that,” Lewis said, even though the conversation had only been left a couple of minutes ago. “Beaters are not as important or as skilled as seekers and you have no evidence to prove me wrong.”

“Seekers and beaters are not anything alike,” Karun said. “How can you compare them?”

“See, Karun gets it and he’s a Slytherin,” Bruno said, triumphantly.

“What’s that got to do with anything?” Karun asked.

“Will explain later,” Felipe promised.

“How about we let the snitch and the bludgers go and see how well you do catching the snitch without us?” Bruno asked.

“Guys, I don’t think this is a good idea,” Sophie said.

“I think it’s a brilliant idea,” Lewis said. “It’ll prove that you are useless and the only reason there’s even still a beater position on the team is tradition.”

“Guys,” Sophie said as Bruno, Felipe, and Lewis all stood.

“This isn’t going to end well, is it,” Karun said to Sophie, not trying to stop them as they went.

“Not at all.”

 

“You guys aren’t serious, are you?” Dan asked, watching Sebastian and Hanna watch Valtteri at lunch. The Ravenclaw was sat with his books out and Dan had already passed comment on how, if he had a time turner, he’d use it to give himself an hour to eat without having to study at the same time, but he didn’t think either of his friends were listening. “Seb? If we were supposed to have one of those things, we would have one, wouldn’t we? I know it would be cool and everything but we cannot _steal_ it.”

“Stop worrying,” Hanna said, pulling her eyes away from Valtteri to look at her food. “We’re not going to steal it.”

“He isn’t going to give it to you,” Dan pointed out.

“We’re going to borrow it,” Hanna said.

“Without him knowing,” Dan said. “Which is stealing. You haven’t even figured out what you would do with it yet.”

Hanna shrugged, popping a cherry tomato into her mouth. “Maybe I have.”

“How?” Sebastian asked.

“How what?”

“How do we get it?”

“Get what?” Kimi asked, sitting down opposite the three of them and blocking their view of the Ravenclaw.

“Valtteri Bottas has a time turner and these two want to steal it,” Dan said, before he could stop himself, receiving an elbow in his stomach from Sebastian.

“A time turner?” Kimi asked, glancing back at Valtteri.

“We are not going to steal it,” Sebastian said, fighting the urge to lean around and look at Valtteri too.

“What do you want with it?” Kimi asked.

“Hanna has a plan,” Dan said, receiving another elbow from his friend.

Kimi watched her, expectantly, and, at first, Hanna looked like she was going to ignore him but eventually huffed and leaned forward.

“I don’t know how well this will work but…”  


It probably wasn’t the best idea to let the bludgers out whilst the chaser’s were still being trialed, but they soon came down once Jenson realised what was going on. Lewis has been given a five seconds head start before the bludgers were released, to give him a fighting chance. Now he was on his own.

“What is going on?” Jenson asked, gently touching down a marching over to where the beaters, seekers, and keepers were waiting. “And why is there a Slytherin here.”

“I told you I should just go,” Karun said.

“It is _fine_ ,” Bruno said. “Lewis said that you don’t need beaters on the team and now he is going to prove us right.”

They all looked up as one to see how he was doing. By the look of it, he hadn’t even spotted the snitch yet, and that had nothing to do with the solid leather balls hurtling around.

“I told you this wasn’t a good idea,” Sophie mumbled.

“Go and get the bludgers,” Jenson said.

“Can’t do that,” Felipe said. “Are up there now. Nothing we can do.”

“Go and get them, or you’re both banned from the try outs,” Jenson said.

“Come on. I will help,” Fernando offered quickly, watching the two beaters leave the group.

Before any of them could even leave the ground, though, there was a loud “thud” from above them and Lewis, followed closely by his broom, came plummeting to the pitch.

“Shit.”

Everyone rushed over, the balls forgotten. Jenson gently sat Lewis up, the seeker’s eyes flickering open.

“Thank god you’re not dead,” Bruno said, pushing through the crowd to kneel beside Jenson. “Are you alright?”

“I’m not dead,” Lewis said, breathlessly, peering up at all the faces looking down at him. That was probably a good thing.

“What happened?”

“One of the bludgers hit my hand and then another hit the broom,” Lewis said, still looking around. His eyes stopped on Bruno, Felipe, and Karun, and he glared at the three of them, accusingly. “You set me up.”

“What?”

“You rigged the bludgers or something,” Lewis said, sitting up properly and wincing at the pain in his wrist.

“Did not even touch the bludgers,” Felipe said.

“We are so, so sorry,” Bruno said.

“Let’s get you to the hospital wing,” Jenson said, helping Lewis up.

“What about try outs?” Sophie asked.

“When dumb and dumber have got the bludgers and the snitch back in the trunk, try outs can carry on,” Jenson said, waving the crowd out of the way to get Lewis to the hospital wing. “It shouldn’t take five seconds to fix your wrist, don’t worry.”


	14. Escape to Hogsmeade and Talk of Tutoring

Dan sat himself down on the bench beside Valtteri, only getting a sideways glance from the Finn. Valtteri knew better than to engage the Australian in conversation and was planning on ignoring him for as long as possible.

“We’ve been talking and thinking,” Dan said, doing his best to foil Valtteri’s plan. He was following another. Not one he _wanted_ to be following, but, when he glanced back at Hanna, Sebastian, and Kimi, they were all watching him, waiting. “About the extra lessons.”

“I think it is best if we wait a couple of weeks,” Valtteri said, not even looking up from his books. “Then we can see when it is the best time for all of us.”

“That’s not fair, mate” Dan said, genuinely unhappy this time. “You want us to keep your secret and you’re not even doing anything for us.”

“You will get what you want but not just yet,” Valtteri said, shuffling over to get away from Dan, only for the first year to shuffle along with him. “What do you need to know about so soon anyway?” Valtteri asked, annoyed.

“Well, it’s the bullying, isn’t it?” Dan said. His job was just to keep Valtteri talking for as long as possible. He’d refused to listen to the rest of Hanna’s plan. He didn’t want to be known as an accomplice in all of this.

“I am not going to show you anything to _hurt_ him,” Valtteri hissed, moving over a little again only for Dan to follow him. He was trapped now between Mark and Dan, no more shuffling room. “You have not gone and done something stupid, have you?”

“Maybe,” Dan said, slowly, not sure exactly what Valtteri was thinking of, but it couldn’t hurt to imply anything. Could it?

Valtteri spun round, finding Jev sat with the other Slytherins in their little corner. The first year wasn’t looking at them, not that Valtteri had really expected him to. He wasn’t sure what to expect.

“You are going to get me in a lot of trouble if you _are_ doing something stupid,” Valtteri said.

“We won’t,” Dan promised. “Come on, we just want to know some things. We’re keeping your secret. You wouldn’t like it if we went and told everyone what you’ve got in your pocket.”

“No,” Valtteri said, standing. “I wouldn’t.” He stood, balancing the books on his arm whilst he collected some of his other things. Dan jumped up too and took some of the books from Valtteri to help. He glanced over at his friends, but Hanna just nodded encouragingly and there was little else he could do.

“Where you off to?” Dan asked. “I’ll help.”

“Just stop,” Valtteri said. “I have enough to deal with without caring about first years making empty threats.”

“How do you know it was empty,” Dan asked, following Valtteri as the Ravenclaw rushed out of the Great Hall.

“Dan, you cannot even do your tie up alone,” Valtteri said, having seen Hanna fix the first year’s tie every morning at breakfast.

“That doesn’t mean anything,” Dan said. “Maybe I’ll go tell someone about the time turner now. Do your friends know?”

“No,” Valtteri said. “And it would be in your best interests if they do not find out.”

“Why is that?” Dan asked.

Valtteri stopped, shifting the things in his hands so he could take the books from Dan.

“Leave me alone, ok?” he said. “I will come to see you and the others when I have time for a lesson.”

Valtteri hurried off, away from the first year, and Dan watched him go. He looked back to see if the others were watching him, but the Great Hall was out of sight now. There was nothing else he could do now. Lessons started soon, and the rest of Hanna’s plan could wait.

 

“When do you think they’ll say who’s on the team?” Karun asked as they walked back to the castle after try outs. Jenson had suggested they help clear away the mess they had created but, after five minutes, decided he would find it easier to conduct the clean-up job alone.

Bruno shrugged. “It should not be long. All they are really making a decision on is who will be the third chaser and the keeper.”

“You sound very cocky, you know that?” Karun asked, laughing.

“Quietly confident,” Bruno said, grinning. He had no reason to believe either of them wouldn’t be on the team, even with Felipe’s Fernando related conspiracy theories.

“I wouldn’t say _quietly_ ,” Karun said. He grinned back at Bruno, then looked across his new friend to Felipe, who seemed to be deep in thought.

“What’s up?”

“It could have gone better,” Felipe said. He would never admit that back on the pitch and he wasn’t entirely sure why he was admitting it in front of Karun, but Karun had somehow become part of Bruno in the past week and he was fine admitting it in front of Bruno.

“He just likes to worry,” Bruno said, putting away the worry with a slap on the back.

“You don’t think that was good enough?” Karun asked. “Half of those kids didn’t know one end of a club from the other.”

Felipe just shook his head. “We will have to wait and see.”

He quickened his pace and Bruno almost had to jog to keep up, leaving Karun behind.

“What’s up? Really?”

“Need to go and study.”

“Is this about Rob?”

“Not everything is about Rob,” Felipe said. “This is about Quidditch. This is about maybe not making the team because Lauda has introduced some stupid rule. Do you think Jenson will be impressed, if he has to change the line-up midway through the season just because I cannot pass some stupid test? Would be easier for him to choose someone else and he knows it. Maybe if I am good enough it would be worth it to have me for a couple of games and change the line up later, but I do not know if I _am_ good enough.”

“You’re going to pass the test,” Bruno said. “I’m going to help you.”

“You barely passed last year either,” Felipe pointed out.

“I know, but I’ll still help,” Bruno said. “And Karun. He’s practically a genius compared to us two.”

Felipe just rolled his eyes, not saying anything.

“You’re going to pass,” Bruno called, falling back to walk alongside Karun again. “You see what I have to put up with?”

“Heard that!” Felipe called back.

 

By the time Wednesday afternoon came about, Valtteri was dreading the trip to Hogsmeade more than he’d even thought possible, but seeing Susie’s enthusiasm made even him smile, and he gave her and Claire a small wave as he made his way over. He was determined to not have to use the time turner to catch up with work when he got back but, looking at the pile of books beside his bed before he came down after lunch, it didn’t look like he was going to be that successful.

“I thought Rob was coming?” Claire asked as the teachers started to call to make their way down to the carriages that were waiting.

“Is tutoring,” Valtteri said, quietly, trying to stop his smile from falling and hoping Claire would drop the subject now.

Claire didn’t have to be told twice, smiling sympathetically at Valtteri when Susie wasn’t looking, before letting herself be dragged off with the young Hufflepuff and taking Valtteri with her.

Karun and Bruno followed at the back of the pack, having been shooed out of the library by Felipe when they asked if he wanted any help.

“It isn’t really that good,” Bruno said, quietly. “I do not normally come.”

“But you are today?”

“Need to show you around, don’t I?” Bruno said. “There’s the shrieking shack. That’s pretty cool, I suppose. It’s supposed to be haunted, which you would think would not be that cool a thing when one of your teachers is a ghost, but people are still freaked out by it.”

“Let me guess, it isn’t really haunted,” Karun said.

“Probably not,” Bruno said. “I am _not_ saying we’ve been in there or anything, but Felipe and I never found any evidence for it, so…”

He shrugged, grinning at the way Karun smiled at him.

“It would probably be cooler if there weren’t so many little kids about,” he said, nodding towards Susie, who was absolutely ecstatic and Bruno almost felt a little sorry for the two Ravenclaws who were dealing with her.

“I am sure you know where to go to get away from them though,” Karun said.

“Maybe,” Bruno said, slowly. “You are a bad influence on me, Mr Chandhok.”

“Says the boy who’s taking me into the Forbidden Forest tonight,” Karun said.

Bruno had finally managed to convince the Slytherin to stop checking that they were still going. He couldn’t figure out why Karun thought they would suddenly change plans. He didn’t know how things worked in India, but he gave at least a little notice before he abandoned plans to break the rules.

“Ok, I promise that will be better than this,” Bruno said, hoping into one of the carriages and pulling Karun in after him.

“This isn’t _that_ bad, is it?” Karun asked, closing the door after them. There were still students looking for carriages, but they didn’t need to have this one.

“Not _bad_ so much,” Bruno said. The village was pretty cool the first couple of times they had visited, but Bruno suspected that had something to do with being allowed out of the castle for the first time, finding somewhere new to explore and destroy. He didn’t think Karun would get the same excitement as he and Felipe did.

“I don’t really care where we are, to be honest,” Karun said.

“Oh, great,” Bruno said as the carriage started moving, apparently pulled by thin air. “We could have just stayed at the castle. Would have saved traveling time.”

“No, I mean,” Karun took a deep breath, looking up at Bruno. His cheeks started burning when he realised he had no idea what he was going to say next and he quickly looked away, smiling sheepishly at the floor.

Bruno frowned, leaning over to try to get Karun to look at him, but the Slytherin refused.

“I cannot read minds,” Bruno said, sitting back and waiting for Karun to reply. He had an _idea_ but that was stupid and he didn’t want to believe it when it most likely wasn’t true. “You are going to have to tell me what you were going to say.”

Karun shook his head, glancing up at Bruno, but it only made his cheeks warmer and he quickly looked away. “Nothing.”

“What is it?” Bruno asked. He didn’t even care if he wasn’t right anymore. He just wanted Karun to tell him for sure.

“Nothing,” Karun said again. “So, tell me more about this shrieking house?”

 

“This isn’t even that difficult,” Rob was saying, and Felipe was _trying_ to listen. He could listen to Rob all day but this time things actually _had_ to go _in_ to his head, and that’s where he was having trouble. “Come on, if you just _tried_.”

“I am trying,” Felipe grumbled, glaring down at the table. He was not going to look at Rob. He wasn’t sure if that would make him angrier or calmer, and he wasn’t sure which of those things he wanted, so he was just going to glare at the table and hope his brain would be able to come up with some answers to Rob’s questions.

“Look,” Rob said, reaching across the table and grabbing Felipe’s hand to try to draw the fourth year’s attention back to him. “If you put the emphasis on the ‘a’, you get a violent, jerky lift, like this:” Rob flicked his wand at an unsuspecting first year across the library, putting the emphasis on the ‘a’s in the incantation, and the first year burst out laughing, attracting glares from everyone around him. “But if you put the emphasis on the ‘u’, you get a gentle, pleasant lift.”

He flicked his wand at Felipe, reciting the same incantation with the emphasis on the ‘u’. Felipe felt the blush grow in his cheeks and a smile he had no control over spread on his face. He knew he should have been concerned by his own lack of control, but he wasn’t.

“See?” Rob asked.

Felipe nodded, going over everything Rob had said. His eyes left the table of their own accord, looking up at Rob. Rob was grinning at him, which did nothing to stop the blush in his own cheeks.

“Do you want to give it a try?” Rob asked.

“The ‘u’?” Felipe asked, raising his own wand.

“That’s right.”

Rob couldn’t help but flinch away when Felipe flicked his wand, and Felipe’s lift disappeared in an instant. If Rob had no faith in him, who would? He copied Rob’s incantation, a little surprised himself that there was no burst of laughter from across the table.

“Did it work?” Felipe asked, watching Rob carefully to see if he was lying.

“I think it worked, yeah,” Rob said, proudly. “See? You can do things when you try.”

Felipe sighed and put his wand down. Rob frowned. Felipe was never really _happy_ to be at tutoring, but he was rarely like this.

“Is something wrong?”

“Am never going to pass this test, am I?” Felipe mumbled. “Professor Lauda only set it to catch me out. He _knew_ it would.”

“He set it because he knows you only give two fucks about studying when there’s quidditch at stake,” Rob said. “And you will pass. You’ll do anything to stay on that broom. You’re a clever kid.”

“Am not _Valtteri_ though, am I?” Felipe said.

“What?”

“You would rather be in Hogsmeade with him, wouldn’t you?” Felipe muttered.

“I have to tutor you,” Rob said, confused. “We both have the time off. It would be stupid to waste it.”

“But if it was a choice,” Felipe asked. “If it was Hogsmeade with _Valtteri_ or tutoring with me, what would you chose?”

“Tutoring,” Rob said. “I would chose tutoring any day.”

He sounded like such a nerd when he said that and he knew it, but he needed the experience if he was ever going to be a teacher. Hogsmeade could wait until he had a life for himself.

Felipe just rolled his eyes, unimpressed with the answer. “Me or Valtteri?”

“Felipe, I don’t-.”

“You would rather spend time with him than me, wouldn’t you?” Felipe said.

“He’s a good student who knows how to study,” Rob said. “What do you think is going to make me look better to employers: bringing a failing student up to normal level or bring a hard working student to above average?”

“Knew it,” Felipe muttered, packing away his things.

“Don’t you want to finish?” Rob asked.

“You do not want to tutor me,” Felipe said.

“I _do_ ,” Rob said. “Jesus, Felipe. You don’t half know how to over react, don’t you? Sure, tutoring Valtteri’s probably going to look better on my reference than tutoring you, but when did I have to choose? Tutoring both of you looks better than either of you.”

Felipe didn’t stop, until Rob placed his hand on the book Felipe was trying to shove into his bag.

“What is the matter?” Rob asked. “You’re getting angry at me because I’m tutoring another student? Do you not realise how weird that sounds?”

Felipe bit his lip, trying to resist the urge to scream at him. He _had_ to know this wasn’t just about the tutoring. Felipe knew he was blind but he wasn’t stupid. Rob would frequently comment about how few fucks Felipe gave about studying. He would have to realise _why_ Felipe wanted tutoring in the first place.

“For a Ravenclaw, you are very stupid,” Felipe said, snatching the book away from Rob and leaving the library.

 

Dan was making his way to class, alone. Hanna’s plan stretched beyond spending the one lunch break with Valtteri. So now Dan was expected to go and find the Finn whenever he had time and Dan still hadn’t figured out how this was going to get them – Sebastian, Hanna, and Kimi, not _him_ – the time turner, but it was a lot easier to go along with the deranged plan than argue with it.

Valtteri was nowhere to be found, though, and it was almost time for charms, so Dan was making his way towards the classroom, alone.

Or at least he thought he was alone.

By the time Dan realised there were footsteps besides his own echoing around the corridor, he was well and truly lost. Again. He wasn’t entirely sure how he kept managing to get lost, but it happened.

He stopped as soon as he realised he was lost, but the footsteps didn’t. A cold chill ran down his back when he realised the rookie error he had made: do not get caught alone some place quite.

Slowly, prolonging the inevitable, Dan spun around. There was a little bit of hope at the back of his mind that it was someone else who’d gotten themselves lost and he had nothing to worry about, but that was gone instantly.

Jev smirked at him.

“Lost?”

“No,” Dan said, smiling cheerfully. “You?”

“Where are you going?” Jev asked.

“Charms,” Dan said. “Would you like me to show you the way?”

“I don’t think I need help from a stupid little mud blood,” Jev said.

“You’re the one that’s lost,” Dan pointed out, still smiling as the Slytherin’s smirk turned into a glare. “Suit yourself, mate. I’ve got a lesson to go to.”

Dan spun back around, marching purposefully off in a random direction and hoping Jev didn’t actually know which way they were supposed to be walking in. The footsteps behind him continued as the Slytherin followed him.

“I don’t think you do,” Jev said once he’d caught up, grabbing Dan’s arm and stopping him.

“No?” Dan asked. “I am _pretty sure_ we do. Have you got your time table?”

“No, _you_ do not have a lesson to go to,” Jev said, prodding a finger into Dan’s chest. “You’re not a wizard.”

“I kinda am,” Dan said. “Sorry to disappoint.”

Dan made to move again, but Jev still had hold of his arm. The Slytherin moved Dan until he had his back against one of the walls, but the fact the Australian was still smiling only seemed to annoy Jev further.

“We’re both going to be late if you keep this up,” Dan warned him. “And when we walk in together what are all your precious pure blood friends going to think?”

Jev seemed to stumble a little at the thought of that but, almost immediately, the smirk was back. Dan tried to squirm out of his grip, but it didn’t work.

“We’re not going to be walking in together,” he said. “You’re not going to be walking in at all.”


	15. Honeydukes and Other Sources of Excitment

Susie had not calmed down in the slightest by the time they got to Hogsmeade, but she was, at least, keeping her excitement inside now.

“So,” she said, trying to stop herself from rushing ahead because she really didn’t have any idea where they were supposed to be going. “Where to first?”

Claire grinned at her. “Where do you want to go?”

She would offer the decision to Valtteri, but she was pretty sure he wasn’t really “there” anyway. He hadn’t said anything the entire journey here, not that she had been able to say much either, with Susie refusing to stop talking for long enough for someone else to speak anyway.

“I’ve no idea,” Susie said, even though she had had many long conversations with her friends over where they would go first. “Pick for me. Wait! Isn’t there a sweet shop?”

“Honeydukes?” Claire asked. “Yeah, we can go there first, if you want?”

“Only if you’re ok with that,” Susie said, knowing Claire would be. She was watching Valtteri, though, who definitely wasn’t his usual kind of quiet, she noticed. It was a little worrying. “Are you ok?”

“I’m fine,” Valtteri insisted. “We are going to Honeydukes?”

“Yes!” Susie said, bouncing off ahead, even though she still didn’t have any idea which way she was supposed to be going.

“Valtteri,” Claire said, gently, watching Susie to make sure the third year didn’t get lost. “Cheer up.”

Valtteri gave her a clearly fake smile before returning to his usual glum state.

“Don’t tell me Rob Smedley has gotten you like this,” Claire said, putting her arm around Valtteri’s shoulders and ignoring the way he flinched away. “Come on. Do you want me to talk to him for you?”

“No.”

“Which way?” Susie called back, before quickly skipping off in the direction Claire gave her.

“I could, if you wanted to,” Claire said. “We have Defence Against the Dark Arts together, I think. I could talk to him. Not mention your name or anything. He’s as blind as a bat. He won’t notice anything unless it’s pointed out to him.”

“You won’t say my name?” Valtteri asked.

“Not if you don’t want me to.”

“Will you two hurry _up_?” Susie called, waiting impatiently at the entrance to an already packed sweet shop.

“We’re coming,” Claire called back, quickening her pace and pulling Valtteri along behind her. “Do you want me to?” she asked, quietly.

“Maybe,” Valtteri said to the floor, the tops of his cheeks glowing pink and making Claire laugh. “But don’t… don’t say my name.”

“Alright.”

 

“So that’s it?” Karun asked, stood next to Bruno outside the Shrieking Shack.

“What were you expecting?” Bruno asked with a grin. “Told you it would be disappointing.”

A couple of third year boys ran down the path to the abandoned house on the edge of the village, but they soon scurried back the way they had come when Bruno glared at them.

“Suppose,” Karun said, shuffling a little closer to Bruno in the cold.

“Are you ok?” Bruno asked. He wasn’t sure what had happened, but something had changed in the time between leaving the carriages back in the main part of the village and coming down to see the Shrieking Shack, and Bruno didn’t like it. “Karun?”

“It’s nothing,” Karun insisted, wrinkling his nose a little. “Just… smells a little funny.”

“I don’t smell anything,” Bruno said, sniffing the air.

“Must be you then,” Karun said with a weak smile, trying to joke but not quite managing it.

“Thanks,” Bruno said, sliding his arm over Karun’s shoulders. “No, really. Are you ok?”

“I’m very ok,” Karun said, fitting easily into Bruno’s hug.

“Let’s go someplace warmer,” Bruno suggested, trying to rub the cold out of his friend’s arm. “There’s a pub back in the village.”

“They’ll let us in?” Karun asked, letting himself be lead away from the abandoned house.

“Sure they will,” Bruno said. “I’ll use some of my winning Senna charm if not.”

Karun snorted. “So that’s what you call it?”

“Shush you,” Bruno said. “I’ll pay, hey?”

“To make up for this being a shitty date?” Karun asked.

“Date?” Bruno asked, stopping. His first instinct was to pull away from Karun, but he realised almost as quickly that wasn’t really what he wanted to do, and hugged his new friend closer.

“I thought- I’m sorry- I-.”

“It’s ok,” Bruno said whilst Karun struggled to come up with a way of explaining himself. “You thought this was a date?”

“I should have just made it into a joke, shouldn’t I?” Karun asked. “Sorry. I’m an idiot. Ignore me.”

“No, it’s ok,” Bruno said, walking again, but slower this time. “If I were going to take you on a date, it would be a better place than this.”

“I’m such an idiot,” Karun whispered, pulling himself away from Bruno.

“You’re not,” Bruno insisted, hurrying after Karun as he marched back up the path to the village.

“You would think I would know better by now, but no,” Karun said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to-.”

“You’re not doing anything,” Bruno said, grabbing hold of Karun’s hand to stop him running off. “I _like_ you, Karun. Or as much as anyone can like someone after only knowing you a week. But I thought you might want to, you know, settle in a bit before some jerk comes along and tries to go out with you.”

“You’re not a jerk,” Karun said, quietly.

Bruno just snorted in disbelief. “So I like you and I guess you like me.”

“Must be that Senna charm you were talking about,” Karun said.

“So,” Bruno said slowly. “What do you want to do about it?”  


The sweet shop was packed and Susie had lost Claire and Valtteri as soon as the three of them disappeared inside. Everything just seemed to be an attack of colour and noise, people getting far too over excited about sweets and chocolate, even by Susie’s levels of excitement. She looked back to ask Claire why everyone was so excited, only to find the Ravenclaws had already been swallowed by the crowd. She probably wouldn’t be left behind, she reasoned, as she pushed through the crowd in order to find out what everyone was so excited about.

Magic sweets were the first real magic thing she had been introduced to, after Diagon Alley, sat on the train with two strangers whilst they tried to get her to sample the collection they’d bought from the trolley. Susie would never forgive Valtteri for making her eat an ear wax flavour Bertie Botts Every Flavour Bean. It had been _interesting_ but it didn’t cause for this much excitement.

Susie found an equally unimpressed looking boy stood by the counter, watching the cashier cash in on the student’s excitement and stupidity.

“What’s so good about this then?” Susie said. She would try to hide her disappointment to Claire and Valtteri, but this guy didn’t need to know about that.

“They are always this excited,” the boy said, his accent making Susie snort before she could stop herself. He just rolled his eyes. “First time here?”

“Yep.”

“You are supposed to be excited to,” the boy said and Susie couldn’t help laughing.

“Sorry,” she said when the boy gave her an unimpressed glare. “I don’t mean to laugh.”

“You’re one to talk, with an accent like that,” the boy said.

“There is note wrong with my accent,” Susie said, elbowing the boy. “What year you in, anyway. I haven’t seen, or heard, you around before.”

“I don’t go to Hogwarts,” the boy said, looking down at the floor.

Susie frowned. “How old are you?”

“Fourteen.”

“Why aren’t you at Hogwarts?”

“Toto,” the cashier called. “Can you go and actually do some work instead of stood their chatting up pretty witches.”

The boy rolled his eyes. “I will see you around, maybe, if here is not too boring for you.”

He hurried off behind the counter and through the door into the backroom. Susie frowned, confused.

“There you are,” Claire called, grabbing hold of Susie’s shoulder. “Come and get some of these. They’re really nice. The only reason to even come to Hogsmeade really…”  


Sebastian and Hanna sat at the front of the charms classroom, glancing over at the empty chair beside them every couple of minutes. Professor Schumacher had already asked where Dan was, but they didn’t know. The answer was most likely that he’d gotten lost, but they weren’t going to say that, knowing they would only get sniggers from the rest of the class.

“You don’t think he’s in trouble, do you?” Hanna asked once they had been set their task of levitating a feather.

“He’ll be lost,” Sebastian said. He’d tried to tell Hanna that it was no good sending Dan off to befriend Valtteri. Hanna had reasoned, though, that if any of them were going to be able to break the Finn’s frosty exterior, it would be Dan. Sebastian had pointed out that he managed to do exactly that with Kimi, but Hanna hadn’t listened to him.

Behind the sound of a class full of eleven year olds trying to figure out how to correctly copy their teacher, Sebastian was sure he heard a laugh, but he ignored it, trying to focus on the spell.

“I bet he’s gotten himself in trouble,” Hanna muttered, waving her wand at the grounded feather without much effort to try to lift it. “We have to go and find him after this.”

“We have a lesson after this,” Sebastian pointed out, managing to do just as well as Hanna did at lifting the feather.

“What’s more important? Finding your friend or going to lesson?” Hanna asked.

“You’re a bad influence on us, you know that,” Sebastian said with a grin. He managed to make the feather hop a little on his next attempt, which he felt called for a small cheer.

“I try my best,” Hanna said, grinning. “But if Dan is in trouble then we have to go and help him.”

“Fine,” Sebastian said. “But you better be coming up with an excuse as to why we’re late to potions. You’re the brains to this operation.”

 

“Who’s that over there?” Susie asked Claire, nodding over to the boy restocking the shelves. The queue seemed to be taking forever to go down and Susie thought they should probably have more than one till if it was always this busy, but she guessed it was only really this busy on a Wednesday afternoon when Hogwarts spilled into the village.

Claire craned her neck to see who Susie was referring to, receiving a smack from the third year “for making it obvious”.

“Oh, him?” Claire said. “That’s Toto. He works here.”

“Yes, I can see that,” Susie said, shuffling forward with the queue. “But why does he work here?”

Claire shrugged. “His parents own the place I think. Could you just hold these a second?”

Claire dumped the arm full of sweets she was carrying into Susie’s arms before disappearing into the crowd students to go and get something else. She reappeared a couple of seconds later with another bar of something and reclaimed her things from Susie.

“Why isn’t he at Hogwarts?” Susie asked, trying to keep her voice down because she was sure Claire kept looking over at him.

“He’s a Squib,” Claire said with a shrug, moving with the line towards the cashier.

“A what?”

“Squib,” Claire said again. “Can’t do magic even though his parents are witches and wizards.”

“That’s a thing?” Susie asked, glancing back at the boy now too.

“Yeah, it’s a thing,” Claire said. “A little less common than muggle borns. Just the way these things work, I guess.”

The _finally_ reached the front of the queue and Claire dumped her goods onto the counter, prompting Susie to place the few things she’d brought on the counter too.

“It’s a little sad,” Susie said, glancing back at the boy again. She was drawing attention to herself, and she wasn’t sure why that was a bad thing but it definitely was.

“I guess,” Claire said, watching the man behind the counter bag her purchases. “But what are you going to do about it? Do you know where Valtteri disappeared off to?”

They hadn’t seen the Finn since they joined the queue. Susie was sure he said something about waiting outside and told Claire this. Carrying the paper bag the man behind the counter had given her, Claire led Susie back through the now slightly thinner crowd of students and out of the shop.


	16. More Hogsmeade and Less Sturdying

When Dan still hadn’t shown up by the end of the lesson, Sebastian was a little worried. He’d been sure Dan was just lost and would eventually make it down to the Charms classroom from wherever he was. Dan was pretty much an expert at getting lost. But he still wasn’t here, and Hanna’s fear that something had actually happened to him seemed a little more realistic.

“Right, where do we look,” Sebastian asked, following Hanna out of the classroom. Dan was supposed to have been trying to find Valtteri, which probably would have started at the library. Sebastian was about to suggest they start by looking there when laughter from behind them stopped him.

“Looking for you friend?” Jev asked.

Sebastian rolled his eyes. Some people just needed to piss off for an eternity or so.

“What do you want?” Sebastian asked.

“Nothing,” Jev said, innocently. “Just thought you might want a little help.”

“What have you done with him?” Hanna asked, jumping straight to the right conclusion.

“I have not done anything,” Jev said, still loading every sentence with fake innocence. “You might want to look up in the Astronomy tower though, if you do not have any other ideas.”

Sebastian was stopped from making a threat he would at some point regret by Hanna pulling up off in the direction of the astronomy tower. They could get the French kid in trouble later, she reasoned. Now they had to go and make sure Dan was safe.

 

“So Squibs can’t go to Hogwarts because they don’t have magic?” Susie asked whilst they were sat in the Three Broomsticks. She had a glass of some soft drink in front of her, but she didn’t like the smell of it and had decided her experimenting with the wizarding world could wait a little while longer if it meant drinking whatever this was.

“Hogwarts is a school for witches and wizards,” Claire said, drinking her own awful smelling concoction. “It’s kind of the point.”

“I know,” Susie said, fiddling with the straw in her drink. “But it’s still a little sad. I mean, if all your friends you grew up with went off and left you on your own. It’s going to be a little sad. He’d have to go to muggle school.”

Susie pulled a face at the thought of it, very glad she’d managed to get out of that awful idea.

“Who is this?” Valtteri asked, only half listening to the conversation.

“Toto Wolff,” Claire said.

“He’s home schooled, I think,” Valtteri said. “If that makes you feel any better.”

“How do you know?” Claire asked.

“Sometimes I talk to people who are not you,” Valtteri said with a small shrug.

“I still think it’s a little sad,” Susie said, crossing her arms.

“Yeah, but that’s life,” Claire said. “Where do you want to go to next?”

 

Bruno bought the first pair of drinks and placed them on the table between him and Karun.

“What is it?” Karun said, peering at the fizzing drink. He was sure it was changing colour, but maybe that was just his eyes playing tricks on him in the dim lighting.

“Just drink it,” Bruno said, proudly, pushing the glass towards Karun.

He ignored his own glass, watching Karun lift his to his lips. Yes, it was definitely changing colour. Karun glanced over at Bruno, but the Brazilian just nodded, urging Karun on.

Nervously, he put the glass to his lips and took a sip.

“Like it?” Bruno asked, knowing he would.

“Yeah,” Karun said. He couldn’t quite put his finger on _what_ he liked about it, but it was good. Better than almost anything he’d drunk before.

“Slow down,” Bruno laughed, pulling the glass away from Karun’s mouth before his friend could drink the entire thing. “It doesn’t have the kindest of effects on bodily gases if you drink too quickly. Still working on that.”

“You made this?” Karun asked, turning his attention from the strange drink to Bruno.

Bruno nodded, grinning. “I’ve some skills that don’t involve toads of bludgers,” he said. “It wasn’t just me, of course. One of the barmen helped me out a little.”

“It’s good,” Karun said.

“I know,” Bruno said.

He fell silent, grinning at the face Karun pulled when he took another sip from the drink, being careful to drink it slowly having been warned of the side effects.

“So…” Bruno said, eventually, knowing they were going to have to talk about this.

“So,” Karun agreed, setting the glass down. “You like me and I like you. I don’t see what the problem is.”

“There isn’t a problem,” Bruno said. “Not really. Just, you see, I have a habit of letting people down.”

“Yes, you said,” Karun said. “I don’t care.”

“Maybe you should,” Bruno said.

“Well, I don’t,” Karun said. “I can do my own fair share of letting people down, thank you very much. We can let people down together.”

He smiled his dorky smile which Bruno was certain would never fail to make himself grin.

“You’ve been at Hogwarts a week,” Bruno pointed out. “Wouldn’t you rather have a look around first?”

“Nope,” Karun said, laughing. “You sound like you’re looking for excuses. If you don’t like me, it’s ok to tell me.”

“No, I do,” Bruno said, quickly. “I just want to make sure you’re sure.”

“I’m sure,” Karun said. “Don’t worry so much.”

“I’ll try not to,” Bruno said, lifting his own glass to his lips.

 

“Why would Jev say he was up here if he wasn’t,” Hanna asked. She must have missed something. They were at the top of the Astronomy tower and Dan wasn’t here. At least, he didn’t _seem_ to be here. Hanna was unconvinced.

“Because he’s trying to wind us up,” Sebastian suggested, leaning against a wall with his arms crossed. “Come on, Hanna, lets go.”

“He’s here. I know it,” Hanna said.                                                                                   

“Dan’s scared of being up here,” Sebastian pointed out. They’d found that much out on their trip around the castle at the weekend. “Why would he even-?”

Before Sebastian could finish there was a knock on the window beside where he was stood and he jumped away from it. Through the frosted glass a hand was visible, knocking on the window and, after couple of seconds confusion, Hanna rushed over to the window and pulled whoever was outside on the ledge inside.

Dan was shaking, more from fear than the cold, though he wasn’t going to deny that it was freezing out on the ledge about a million feet up. He fell out of Hanna’s hold and into the wall opposite, his eyes still shut, trying to catch his breath.

“Took your time,” he managed to mumble, sinking to the floor. He’d hoped someone leaving the astronomy lesson might notice him, but apparently not.

“What happened?” Hanna asked, crouching down beside Dan whilst Sebastian just stood, frozen to the spot, staring at them.

“Don’t know,” Dan mumbled. “I was lost and then Jev found me and then I was on the window ledge. I don’t know. I’m a little confused myself.”

“I knew he’d done something,” Hanna said, lifting Dan up. “Come on. Let’s get you to the hospital wing.”

“I’m fine,” Dan said, but his legs were shaking when he stood and he leaned so hard on Hanna she stumbled herself.

“We’re taking you to the hospital wing,” Hanna said, pushing herself upright and helping Dan down the stairs.

Sebastian rushed past, not bothering to help.

“Seb, wait. Where are you going?”

“To go and teach that asshole a lesson,” Sebastian said, ignoring Hanna as he raced down the stairs.

Hanna left Dan a moment to catch up with Sebastian, grabbing his arm before he could make it too far.

“Seb,” she snapped. “What are you going to do? You’re only going to get in trouble. No. You’re coming to the hospital wing with us.”

“He doesn’t need both of us,” Sebastian said. “Jev needs to be taught he can’t do things like this.”

“Yeah, and you barging in there and threatening to attack him is really going to do that,” Hanna said. “I thought you were supposed to be a Slytherin. Use your brain.”

 

Once something had Susie’s attention, it was extremely difficult to get her to forget about it.

The three of them were wondering through the village when they passed Honeydukes again. Claire noticed the way Susie’s eyes lit up when she noticed the boy stood outside the shop, apparently on a break.

“I’m just going to say hello,” Susie said, handing Valtteri the bag of shopping she was carrying.

Valtteri turned to Claire, a little confused.

“You’re not the only one with a crush, I think,” Claire said, grinning.

“Erm, hi,” Susie said, nervously.

Toto looked up, smiling when he found the source of the ‘hi’. “Hi miss too cool for Honeydukes.”

“It’s Susie,” Susie said, trying not to get as annoyed as she was getting.

“Toto,” the boy said, offering his hand. Susie shook it nervously, trying to come up with another sentence to continue the conversation.

“My friend said you were a Squib,” she says. “And I’m a muggle born. I guess together we could make a wizarding person the Slytherins would accept.”

Toto just peered at her for a couple of seconds before smirking. “ _Together we could make_?

“Yes,” Susie said, before thinking about what she actually said. “Oh my god, no. I didn’t mean it like that.”

Toto just laughed until Susie stopped stuttering an apology and smiled sheepishly too.

“See,” she said. “Not too cool for anything.”

“I guess not,” Toto said. “So, what else has your friend been saying about me?”

“Not much,” Susie admitted, blushing. “Valtteri says your home schooled, which is good, I guess. Muggle school sucks. Zero out of ten, would not recommend.”

“Valtteri Bottas?” Toto asked.

“Yeah, he’s my friend,” Susie said, jerking a thumb back to where Claire and Valtteri were talking between themselves. “You know him.”

“Yeah, we looked at some things during the holidays,” Toto said.

“He tutored you?” Susie asked. She knew the Ravenclaws did a lot of tutoring, Professor Williams running a programme or something like that, but Valtteri hadn’t mentioned doing anything during the summer.

“Not exactly,” Toto said with a knowing smile. He glanced down at his watch and sighed. “I should get back to work.”

“Yeah, I shouldn’t keep you chatting out here all day,” Susie said.

“I will see you next week maybe,” Toto said.

“Maybe.”

 

Mark, Fernando, and Jenson had taken advantage of the quiet Wednesday afternoons to catch up on the work they had been putting off from the week before. Or Fernando and Jenson were catching up, whilst Mark made less than helpful comments about having to manage time better and get work done in advance. Things were in no way back to normal between the three of them, but Mark felt they were making progress, and he wasn’t going to let them stop.

“Nando, you can’t just copy my essay,” he said, frowning at his boyfriend.

“Am not,” Fernando argued, not looking up from where he was copying Mark’s essay. “Am just referencing it.”

“Hmm,” Mark said, taking his essay back. “Which essay is it anyway?”

“History of Magic,” Fernando said, craning his neck to try to see the end of the sentence he was copying.

Mark dumped the correct text book in front of Fernando. “Pages 563 to 565,” he said. “That essay was set last Tuesday. It should be done by now.”

“But still, it is not,” Fernando said, as if there was nothing he could have done to change this fact.

Mark rolled his eyes, then glanced over to see what Jenson was doing.

“You can’t draw diagrams in an essay,” he complained.

“How else am I supposed to explain it?” Jenson asked.

“With _words_ ,” Mark suggested, shaking his head. It was hopeless. He had no idea how either of his friends were going to pass their O.W.Ls but it was going to take more than some gentle guidance on his part. “Are you sure you guys haven’t bitten off more than you can chew, with the quidditch and everything.”

“Ah, see, told you he would bring this up,” Fernando said, accepting a handful a sickles from an annoyed looking Jenson. “Told you he is already scared out team will be better than his.”

“Am not,” Mark said, annoyed. “You put a bet on it?”

“Know you too well,” Fernando said. “Do not know why you doubted me, Jenson.”

“We don’t even have a team yet,” Jenson said. “A couple of things we need to sort out.”

“Focus,” Mark said. “You need to study guys. Stop distracting each other.”

“Do not know what there is left to sort out,” Fernando said. “Have told you what I think. Is a good team.”

“We can’t just let them do things like that?”

“Are you going to tell Professor Lauda that we will have a team that is not the best we can have because the students are also idiots?” Fernando asked. “Is not going to be happy when you say you do not want Lewis anyway.”

“ _Guys_ ,” Mark snapped. “Studying. Come on. You can argue over quidditch when we’re done.”

“I’m the captain and what I say goes,” Jenson said.

“Will not be the captain for very long if you pick a shit team,” Fernando said.

“It won’t be a shit team,” Jenson said. “The only reason you want me to let the three of them on the team is because it makes your life easier.”

“Is not true,” Fernando said. “Want to win for once.”

“Are you two seriously arguing over this?” Mark asked. “Have you heard yourselves?”

“You only want to go against what I am saying because we found out your little secret,” Fernando said.

“That has nothing to do with this and you know it,” Jenson snapped back.

“Is true,” Fernando said, his arms crossed. “You will make the team not as good as it could be just to prove some silly point to me.”

“That’s it,” Mark said, holding his hands up. “I’m going. If you want any actual help I’ll over in the silent bays.”

Mark stood, taking his textbooks he’d been generously letting his friends borrow with him. Fernando and Jenson grinned at each other once they were sure he was gone.

“Told you that would work,” Fernando said. “Know him too well.”

Jenson laughed. “Right, now onto important things. Who are we actually going to get as the third chaser?”


	17. Dinner Time Conversations

Dan was fine, though got a stern warning from the nurse about going out and standing on window ledges, and Dan promised not to do it again anytime soon. Seb had sat quietly through the lecture the nurse had given his friend, his finger nails digging into the palms of his hands. They’d come up with a way of getting Jev back for this. It needed to be stopped now before he did anything dangerous. Whatever Hanna’s plan with the time turner was, Sebastian wanted the result faster.

Hanna ruled that there was no point going to potions, as they’d already missed most of the lesson, and Seb had a suspicion that was her way of getting out of coming up with an excuse. He’d have to come up with one later, one of his “extra lessons” that Professor Horner was having him take after dinner. But that was the least of his worries as he sat down at the Hufflepuff table in a very empty Great Hall. It was a while until dinner, but the three of them hadn’t found a space that was “theirs” yet, and there wasn’t really anywhere else to go.

“He isn’t going to stop until we _do_ something,” Sebastian said, picking at the edge of the table.

“We’ll go to Professor Schumacher,” Hanna suggested.

“And what do you expect him to do?” Sebastian asked. He was feeling a whole lot less enthusiastic about going to Hogwarts a week and a half into his seven years here than he was at platform nine and three quarters and it could only get worse.

“He’s our head of house,” Hanna pointed out. “He has to do something, doesn’t he?”

“Not really,” Dan said. “Guys, just leave it. If we ignore him he’ll go away. That’s what bullies do.”

“But they don’t and you know it,” Sebastian said.

“Then what do you propose we do?” Hanna asked, seeing as Sebastian _clearly_ had this all thought out.

“We use the time turner and-.”

“No,” Dan said, before he could finish. “No, we are not using any time turner to do anything. Magic is cool and everything but you know all the stories about people who mess about with time travel and it ain’t cool. I’m not doing it.”

“Then we tell Schumacher,” Hanna said.

“Fine,” Sebastian said. “But it will not help.”

“Do I get _any_ say in this?” Dan asked. “Just don’t say anything. He’ll get bored. The only reason he’s still doing things is down to your reactions. Just stop and so will he.”

“It does not work like that Dan and I think you know it,” Sebastian said.

“This is going to work,” Dan said. “Trust me, guys.”

 

“So if he likes this Rob why doesn’t he tell him?” Karun asked as they made their way back down from the Gryffindor common room after Bruno had dumped some of his stuff (making Karun wait in the next corridor so he didn’t hear the password).

“Oh, because that would make life easy for him and he does not want that,” Bruno joked. “I don’t know. Probably something stupid.”

“And that’s why you don’t want to tell him about us?” Karun asked.

Bruno sighed. He wasn’t entirely sure why he didn’t want to tell Felipe. It had always been the two of them, ever since they’d first found themselves competing for the same beater spot in the first year. They had other friends, of course, but that didn’t change that it was really just the two of them. To be honest, Bruno had been a little worried about what would happen if Rob ever realised what Felipe was doing and decided to do something about it. Because then Rob would definitely be more important to his friend than Bruno was, and he didn’t like that. But now he and Karun…

“It is complicated,” Bruno settled on.

“Fine,” Karun said, sliding his hand into Bruno’s.

“Come on,” Bruno said, grinning and trying to move the conversation on. “If we do not get down to dinner soon, all the good spaces will be taken.”

There was definitely a buzz of excitement when they arrived in the Great Hall as third years told their friends what they’d gotten up to in Hogsmeade. Bruno shook his head at the noise, the same every year, it seemed, and pulled Karun along to sit down beside Felipe at the Gryffindor table.

“Think Jenson has made his decision on the team,” Felipe said, quietly, watching the fifth year who was sat further down the table.

“Yeah?”

“Do not think it is going to be good news,” Felipe muttered, looking down at the text book he had out in front of him.

Bruno looked down the table at Jenson, then realised what Felipe was looking at and spun back round to his friend.

“Are you alright?”

Felipe nodded and sighed again. “Is no use. It does not go in. Even if I _do_ make the team, I will not be on it by the end of Christmas break.”

“You are worrying over nothing,” Bruno said, taking the book away from Felipe. “Come on. Let’s eat.”

 

Claire slid along the bench so she was sat next to Rob. Valtteri hadn’t come down to dinner yet, still trying to catch up on the work he had set aside for the afternoon, so Claire thought this was the best time to speak to Rob. She’d told Valtteri she’d do it during their Defence Against the Dark Arts class but Rob was a nerd, even for a Ravenclaw, and he probably wouldn’t be paying attention.

“Hey,” Claire said, cheerfully.

Rob looked up from the book he was reading, confused. “Hello?”

“Can we have a chat?”

“I suppose.”

“Someone likes you,” Claire said, bluntly. She’d thought about saying it in a more round about way in the hope that he would catch on, but she knew that wasn’t going to happen.

“What?”

No, he would definitely not catch on.

“Somebody _likes_ you,” Claire said, hoping that was enough to clear it up.

The face Rob pulled said yes, he did understand but no, he did not believe it. Claire was definitely mad. He went out of his way to _not_ be liked. How did this happen?

“You like me?” Rob asked, slowly.

“Not me you idiot,” Claire said, smacking Rob around the back of the head. “That’s gross.”

“Sorry,” Rob said, jerking away from Claire when she raised her hand again. “So who is it?”

“I can’t say,” Claire said.

“Why not?”

“I told him I wouldn’t say his name,” Claire said.

“ _Him_?” Rob asked, even more surprised.

“Yes, _him_ ,” Claire said. “Oh Rob, don’t be like that, I know you like guys. You told me in third year.”

“I was drunk,” Rob said, blushing.

“So it wasn’t true?” Claire asked, sceptically.

Rob sighed and rolled his eyes. “Who is it?”

“I told him I wouldn’t tell you,” Claire said again. “Just… keep your eyes open.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Rob asked.

“Oh you really are an idiot aren’t you?” Claire muttered to herself. There was no hope. Valtteri had picked the stupidest kid in the house and he was going to have to work on that himself.

 

“Practice,” Jenson said, leaning over the table to talk to Bruno and Felipe. “This Saturday at five o’clock. Don’t miss it.”

“We made the team?” Bruno asked.

“Course you made the team,” Jenson said, laughing. “Now, where’s Lewis.”

“Need to tell him he did not?” Felipe asked, hopefully.

Jenson snorted. “I don’t think Lauda would let me get away with that,” he said. “Anyway, you better get studying.”

He grinned before looking down the table in search of their “star” seeker.

“See,” Bruno said. “Told you there was nothing to worry about. So, four years running now.”

“Hmmm,” Felipe said, opening the book again.

“Don’t hmmm me,” Bruno said, closing the book. “Oh, I doubt Professor Lauda would even enforce this new stupid rule. He’s only done it to scare us.”

“Well, it has worked,” Felipe said, pulling his book out of Bruno’s grip.

“Where are you going?” Bruno asked as Felipe stood.

“To the library,” Felipe said.

“But I thought we were going to-?” Karun began.

“Yes, well, you can do that without me,” Felipe said. “Am not going to drop everything so Bruno can have fun with his new toy.”

“Hey?”

“Oh just leave him,” Bruno said, watching his friend go.

“Is he always like this?” Karun asked.

“Studying? No,” Bruno said. “He just over reacts about quidditch. Never mind, eat up and we will get going.”

 

“Professor Schumacher,” Hanna called, hurrying after her head of house as he left the Great Hall and pulling Sebastian along with her. “Could we talk?”

“What is it, Miss Prater?” the teacher asked, stopping just outside the door. Sebastian and Hanna stopped too and Sebastian glanced back at his house table, trying to see if Jev was watching them, but he couldn’t see the other Slytherin.

“It’s a sensitive issue,” Hanna said, nervously. “Could we talk privately?”

Professor Schumacher looked between Hanna and Sebastian, trying to figure out what this was about before either of them told him. Sebastian shuffled uncomfortably. Would he already know the three of them hadn’t been in potions class? Sebastian had seen him and Horner talking at dinner, but surely teachers had other things to gossip about.

“Right then,” Professor Schumacher said. “We’ll talk in my office.”

They followed the head of house in silence. Sebastian kept checking every couple of moments to make sure there was nobody – specifically, no Jev – following them. Professor Schumacher’s office, like the Hufflepuff common room, was near the Great Hall, and they didn’t have long until the two students were sat on the soft chairs in front of Professor Schumacher’s desk. The teacher himself decided to ignore the chair behind the desk and sat on the edge of it as he had done in the lesson.

“What’s the matter?”

“It’s Dan,” Hanna began. “He’s being bullied.”

“Mr Ricciardo?” Professor Schumacher asked.

“Yes,” Hanna said. She glanced over at Sebastian but it looked like his mind was elsewhere and Hanna doubted she’d get any help from him. “It’s Vergne and the other Slytherins.”

“Not including Mr Vettel here, I assume,” Professor Schumacher said.

“What?” Sebastian asked, pulled from his thoughts at the sound of his name. “No, sir.”

“No, sir,” Hanna said. “Vergne trapped Dan out on a ledge outside the Astronomy tower this afternoon.”

“On a ledge?” Professor Schumacher asked.

“Yes sir.”

“And how exactly did that happen?” the teacher asked.

“We don’t really know,” Hanna said. “And Dan doesn’t either. He doesn’t want to talk to you. He thinks it’ll only make things worse.”

“Right,” Professor Schumacher said, slowly. “I will deal with this. I’ll speak to Professor Rosberg. Sebastian? Don’t you have a potions class to get to?”


	18. Strange Marks and Screechers.

“It’ll probably be better the two of us,” Bruno said, peering around the edge of the wall where the herbology teacher was taking two out of bed students back to their dormitories. “Stay right behind me, ok?”

“Are you sure we won’t get caught?” Karun asked.

Bruno rolled his eyes. “I’m sure we are not going to get caught.” Once the teacher was out of sight, he took hold of Karun’s hand and pulled him out of the castle.

Karun followed Bruno silently, letting himself be pulled out of the castle and down the grassy slopes outside. It was a clear night, the waning moon lighting the grounds and reflecting off the Great Lake.

It wasn’t until they were at the bottom of the slope that Bruno let go of Karun’s hand.

“We should be ok out here,” he said. “But if you hear something, let me know, ok?”

“Something?” Karun asked.

“People,” Bruno clarified. “There’s nothing scary in the Forbidden Forest, don’t worry.”

“Then why is it forbidden?” Karun asked.

Bruno shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said. “My uncle used to say it was something about the establishment.”

“What?”

“I don’t know.” Bruno just grinned, taking hold of Karun’s hand again, and pulled him into the forest. “It’s probably to just scare people. There’s nothing in here.”

The path was fairly well trodden this close to the open but, as they got deeper, the path became thinner, until there was practically nothing there, and the leaves above them blocked out all light and both boys had the end of their wands lit.

“It is a little creepy,” Karun mumbled, stepping over a fallen log.

“This is weird,” Bruno said, lifting his wand higher to see what he was looking at better. There were some claw marks on one of the trees and, when he looked closer, on a few of the other trees too. Karun caught up, stumbling about a little until he was stood behind Bruno.

“Weird?” he asked. “It’s just an animal, isn’t it?”

“Not one that I’ve ever seen,” Bruno said. So they didn’t see many animals when he and Felipe were wandering about here on their night time strolls, but he’d seen a lot of creatures in his Care For Magical Creatures class and none that would make marks like this.

“What do you think it is?” Karun asked, uncertainly. He raised his own wand higher so Bruno could get a better look, but Bruno just shook his head.

“I’ve no idea,” he said. “We should probably tell Professor Lauda, but we would only get into trouble.”

“Yes,” a voice behind them said. “I think you would.”

 

It was late. Felipe wasn’t even sure how late the library stayed open, but he was just going to stay here for as long as possible. His logic was that, if Bruno and Karun did get caught, there would be no way they could drag him into this. The librarian would be able to say he’d been here all night. Not that he’d seen the librarian for a while. Not that he’d seen anyone for a while, tucked away between the shelves where he hoped nobody would find him.

After reading the same sentence about twelve times, he was ready to give up for the night. He’d been here hours and had barely managed to finish the page.

It was no good. It was hopeless and he didn’t care what Bruno said, he was never going to pass the bloody exam and Lauda could stuff it up his arse because he wasn’t even going to bother trying anymore-

“What are you doing here?”

Felipe almost jumped off of the stool he was sitting on, spinning around to find Rob watching him, confused.

“Are you actually studying?”

“Was,” Felipe said, blushing. “Before you come and disturb me.”

“But you’re hiding?” Rob said, uncertainly.

“Am not,” Felipe said. “Is just quiet here. Is better to study when it is quiet?”

“The library’s closed,” Rob pointed out. It had been closed for over half an hour and he’d had to beg a note from Professor Williams to be allowed in here. “How long have you been here?”

“Since dinner,” Felipe said, with a shrug. He didn’t know what he’d done wrong this time, but he had a feeling he was going to get moaned at. Probably something along the lines of “ _Valtteri_ would never feel the need to be in the library after hours”.

Rob smirked. “Hang on a second and I’ll walk you back to your dorm.”

“I do not need walking back,” Felipe said.

“Well, you kind of do,” Rob said. “With it being past curfew, and with me having a note to say I can be out past curfew if I wished.”

Felipe just looked at him for a couple of moments, trying to figure out if this was a trick, but he couldn’t detect anything.

“I can get back to the Gryffindor common room without being caught,” he said.

“Can you now?” Rob said with a smirk. “Probably not something you should be advertising.”

“You are going to grass on me?” Felipe said, trying to get as many of the books he was using into his bag as possible. If the library was shut, the librarian wouldn’t mind him taking some of the books without borrowing them.

“Have you got those signed out?” Rob asked, eyeing the textbooks.

“Is too late for that now.”

“You can come back and get them tomorrow,” Rob said, taking the books from Felipe. “They’re screechers. You’ll wake up the whole castle if you take them out of the library without permission.”

“Huh?”

“You really know nothing about the library, do you?” Rob laughed, putting the books back on the shelf. “Look, the librarian gets here at six tomorrow morning. If you need them that badly, come down and get them then.”

Felipe rolled his eyes but didn’t take the books back from Rob. He shut his bag without saying a word and made to hurry off, but Rob grabbed his arm.

“Aren’t you going to wait?”

“Told you,” Felipe said. “Can make it back without an escort.”

“I don’t doubt that at all,” Rob said, knowing a little too much about Felipe’s antics than he would like to. “But let me, at least. If you got caught and you said you were in the library, Professor Williams will come and ask me and then I’ll get in trouble for letting you go off. And besides, I need to talk to someone.”

He’d wanted to talk to someone his own age about this, but the few friends he had would only make fun of him for being interested in whatever Claire was talking about. And Felipe was near enough a friend, wasn’t he?

“What about?” Felipe asked, pulling his bag onto his shoulder.

“It’s…” He wasn’t really sure how he was supposed to say this. “Someone likes me.”

And Felipe wasn’t really sure how he was supposed to react to that. “Oh.”

“I know,” Rob said, waving his hand about as he led Felipe through the library to the book he had come for in the first place. “Why? Why would someone do something so stupid? And then Claire went and told me as if I can do anything about it but she won’t tell me who.”

“Claire?” Felipe asked, his heart in his throat. He didn’t even know a Claire.

“Claire Williams,” Rob clarified. “She’s in my defence against the dark arts class. And in my house. I have no idea… I don’t know anybody that stupid.”

“So they have to be stupid to like you?” Felipe asked.

“I don’t want a relationship,” Rob said. “I’m too busy.”

“Cannot help it if you fancy someone,” Felipe pointed out. “Just because you fancy someone, does not mean you have to do something about it.”

“Then what’s the point?” Rob asked, pulling one of the step ladders over to get the book he wanted. The end of his wand was lit to see, casting unusual shadows across his face. Felipe watched him climb up the ladder, trying to come up with an answer. Maybe he could make this work in his favour, if he could somehow find a way to convince Rob that maybe he did have time for a relationship. But first he needed to figure out who it was that Claire thought liked Rob, because it couldn’t be him. He didn’t even know Claire.

He’d seen her about, of course. Most of her friends were younger students, almost exclusively Ravenclaws. Felipe had seen her hanging around with a Hufflepuff girl and few times. And-

“Bottas.”

“What?” Rob asked, before blowing dust off of the book.

“Nothing,” Felipe said, quickly. It was him. It _had_ to be him. “Are you taking me back to the common room or not?”

“Yeah, wait a second,” Rob laughed, dropping the book into his bag and hurrying down the step ladder. “There we are.”

“And that one is not a screamer?” Felipe asked.

“Screecher,” Rob corrected him. “And nope, all safe.”

“Alright,” Felipe said, following Rob out of the depths of the library. “You know, I think maybe it would be better if you do just ignore whatever it is that Claire is saying.”

“You think?” Rob asked.

“Yeah,” Felipe said. “Have said so yourself, they would have to be stupid. And you already have one idiot that you need to look after.”

“You’re not an idiot,” Rob insisted, ruffling Felipe’s hair as he led the younger Gryffindor through the castle to the staircase. “You just don’t listen sometimes.”

“Is quicker this way,” Felipe said, tugging Rob’s arm towards one of the secret passageways he and Bruno had discovered years ago.

“Are you sure you should be showing me this?” Rob asked, letting Felipe lead him down empty corridors that were hardly ever used. “Won’t it ruin your hiding place when you’re skiving from tutoring?”

“When do I ever skive from your tutoring?” Felipe asked, innocently. “And it does not matter. Are plenty of other places that I will be able to go and hide.”

“If you say so,” Rob muttered, following Felipe as he ducked between the statue of the headless hag and lifted away a tapestry to reveal the small door behind it. “Looks a bit small, doesn’t it?”

“Is fine,” Felipe insisted, jiggling the lock in the way that would open the door. “Opens up a little inside.”

“I’ll trust you,” Rob said, even though he knew he shouldn’t, and followed Felipe into the passage, letting the tapestry drop down behind him.

 

Professor Lauda peered at the claw mark on the tree as Bruno had, making the boys perfectly aware that there would be no running off. Both boys watched him, Bruno curious and Karun wishing he was back in the warmth of his bed. The concentration in the teacher’s face softened a little when he realised what had made the mark.

Bruno noticed.

“Professor?”

“Senna, you are to take yourself and Master Chandhok back to the castle,” Professor Lauda ordered. “You are to go straight back to your dormitories and if this is done there will be no further mention of tonight’s activities. Do I make myself clear?”

“Really?” Bruno asked. He looked past his head of house to the claw mark on the tree again. It had to be something serious if Professor Lauda was going to let them go without punishment.

“Now.”

“Right,” Bruno said, pulling on the sleeve of Karun’s robes to get him to move again. “We’ll go straight back there now.”

“Yes,” Professor Lauda said, not looking around to watch the boys leave. This was serious and all the fun and games in the world weren’t going to convince Bruno otherwise.

“What was it?” Karun asked, following Bruno back to the castle.

“I don’t know,” Bruno said again. “Lauda knows though. He used to do this kind of thing, before he was a teacher. He used to go after magical creatures and make sure they were someplace safe, away from humans.”

“So he’ll have dealt with this kind of thing?” Karun asked. “Whatever it is?”

“Probably,” Bruno said. “As long as whatever it is stays in the Forest, it doesn’t really matter. Let Lauda deal with it.”

“And we’re just going to go back to dormitories now?” Karun asked.

“Yes,” Bruno said. “Because when Professor Lauda does detention, he does detention, and I do not want any part in that.”

Bruno grinned, but Karun’s usual goofy smile was filled with disappointment and Bruno’s grin fell from his face with a sigh.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I know this wasn’t exactly what you had in mind. And after such a fun filled day in Hogsmeade as well. But I’ll think of something, I promise. You said you did not want to get into trouble, and at least we are not in that.”

“I guess.”

Bruno took hold of Karun’s hand, squeezing it gently. “If you still want to explore the forest, we’ll go another time. But I am not sitting through four hours of cleaning owl shit.”  


“I still don’t know who it would be,” Rob said, following Felipe blindly, something he didn’t feel at all comfortable doing. “It’s really going to bug me.”

“Is nobody,” Felipe claimed, not needing to see to know exactly where he was going. “Is probably just some stupid first year with a silly little crush.”

He could not believe Valtteri Bottas had a crush on _his_ Rob. It wasn’t fair. The kid was already a genius, according to Rob at least, and Felipe was half sure he was one of the few people Rob would actually go out with if he knew the truth. And Felipe had very much taken his guess to be the truth.

“Yes, but _why_?” Rob said. And why would Claire tell him if that was the case? Talking to Felipe wasn’t helping him to understand any more than he already did. Maybe he was better off just ignoring it.

“You are not that bad looking,” Felipe reasoned. “And with such a charming personality.”

“Oi,” Rob laughed, smacking Felipe on the back of the head. “Enough of the sarcasm.”

“Was not being sarcastic,” Felipe said, gently, stopping suddenly so that Rob walked into him. Completely unintentionally, of course. “Ok, so maybe a little. But you are not that bad. I do not think it is completely unreasonable for someone to have a silly little crush on you.”

Or more than a silly little crush…

Rob looked down at Felipe, not sure what to make of the small smile or the sudden stop or the comments. Maybe today was just turning out to be one of those wacky Wednesdays.

“Let’s go,” Rob said, prodding Felipe in the back. “I don’t fancy being up all night.”

Felipe’s smile fell for a moment, but he carried on walking anyway. “Is not far now.”

 

Bruno was back by the time Felipe arrived at the dorm, struggling to undress without waking anybody up.

“Where have you been?” he asked, accusingly, when Felipe walked in, trying to take his socks off but forgetting the possibility of sitting down.

“Was studying.”

Bruno snorted.

“I was,” Felipe insisted, sitting on the bed beside Bruno’s.

“Never mind,” Bruno said. “I saw something really strange in the Forbidden Forest today. Claw marks, I think. But I have no idea what they are from. It is nothing like I have ever seen in Care For Magical Creatures or in any of the books my mum tries to make me read. And then Professor Lauda found us. When he saw this mark he looked really funny… strange. I think it is trouble. I think there is something dangerous in the Forbidden Forest. Felipe, are you even listening?”

“Valtteri Bottas _likes_ Rob,” Felipe said, thoughtfully.

Bruno rolled his eyes. There was going to be no talking about anything else for the rest of the night.

“Oh, how dare he,” Bruno muttered, lying back in bed. Maybe he’d be able to sleep through Felipe’s rant.


	19. Questions and conversations

Jenson grabbed hold of Nico’s hand as he made his way into the Great Hall, swinging him back out of the room and around the corner. Nico’s confused face turned first to a glare before softening.

“Morning, beautiful,” Jenson said, cupping Nico’s face.

“If we get caught again…” Nico said, but he rose onto his toes to snatch a kiss from Jenson anyway, sneaking a glance past the Brit to see if anybody was coming their way.

“We won’t,” Jenson insisted. “Have you thought anymore about how you’re going to tell your dad?”

“I haven’t really had time to think about it,” Nico said. Between all the homework he was getting and trying to look after the first years, he hadn’t had much time to think about anything. “I thought you didn’t want me to tell him anyway.”

“I don’t,” Jenson said. “But I need to know what you’re planning so I can think of a way to stop it.”

He smiled at his answer, leaning down to kiss Nico again, but Nico stepped back, grinning at the annoyed look on his boyfriend’s face.

“I’ll think of something,” Nico insisted. “Or maybe Mark will be able to think of something. He’s supposed to be clever, isn’t he?”

“Ha, try getting anything that isn’t a sarcastic comment about studying from Mark,” Jenson said. “Nico, I really don’t see why you need to tell him. It isn’t as if we’re planning on running off to get married any time soon. There’s no reason for him to know, or no more reason than there ever has been.”

“I know,” Nico said, watching Jenson as he took hold of Nico’s hand, rubbing circles into the back of it as if that would convince him to go along with whatever Jenson wanted and, thinking about it, it probably would, usually. “But I don’t want him to find out from anybody else. It has to come from me.”

“Fernando and Mark aren’t going to tell anyone,” Jenson insisted softly.

“Yes, they say that,” Nico said. “But what happens when you next get into a silly little argument with them? Mark was saying you were arguing over the Quidditch team yesterday.”

“Oh, that was just to get him to leave us alone,” Jenson laughed. “We’re not going to get into any serious spats. And besides, Fernando knows why nobody can know. Even if he fell out with me, he wouldn’t-.”

“Yes, but you do not _know_ that,” Nico said, gently pushing Jenson away when he tried to kiss him again. “Look, I am not going to say anything until I have figured it out and I will tell you what I am going to do before I do it anyway. Please, Jenson. Trust me.”

“Fine,” Jenson said. “But I still think it’s a waste of time.”

“Of course you do.”

“Hey up,” Mark said, slapping Jenson on the back as he passed. “If you want to keep this a secret you might want to do this somewhere else. Are you having breakfast or…?”

“I’m coming now,” Jenson said, pressing a kiss onto Nico’s forehead before hurrying to catch up with Mark.

Nico felt his cheeks start to burn as he watched Jenson go, smoothing down his hair where Jenson had moved it to kiss him. He was going to have to come up with something Jenson would agree with soon, before they were caught by someone worse than Fernando and Jenson.

 

“I’ve been thinking,” Susie said, pouring way too much honey into her porridge.

“Careful,” Claire said. “I did that once and had a head ache for a week.”

Susie pulled a face and it was clear the joke had gone over her head so Claire just nodded for her to continue.

“It’s not really very fair, is it?” she said.

“What?”

“That squibs can’t come to Hogwarts,” Susie said. “I mean, they live in the magical world, don’t they? And the only thing they can’t do is spells and stuff.”

“Yeah,” Claire said. “But there are rules for a reason. There are plenty of things squibs can do without having to go to places like Hogwarts.”

She shrugged the conversation away. This wasn’t really a morning conversation, and this wasn’t a conversation typical of Susie, either. She might have expected this kind of thing from Valtteri, but not Susie.

“Why’s it bothering you anyway?” Claire asked. “Is this about Toto Wolff?”

“No,” Susie said, a little too quickly. “Well, not just Toto, anyway. You said it was common.”

“Fairly common.”

“Well, is there a special school for them?” Susie asked. She just did not understand why this was even a thing. It seemed to her that the wizarding world was behind the muggle one in a lot of things, and this was clearly one of them.

“Don’t think so,” Claire said. “I don’t know. I’m not a squib. I don’t know many squibs. Why don’t you go and ask one of them?”

“Are you alright?” Susie asked, pulling away from her friend a little. Claire wasn’t usually like this.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Claire said, taking the honey away from Susie before she used the entire jar. She smiled, trying to convince the Hufflepuff that she really was fine. She looked up to find Valtteri making his way over, so she moved over a little to let him sit down.

Valtteri smiled weakly as he sat down, but he could feel he had just interrupted something.

“Is everything ok?”

“Super,” Claire said.

“Valtteri,” Susie said, because maybe the fourth year would know more about squibs than Claire did. “Do you think it’s fair that squibs don’t go to Hogwarts?”

Valtteri shrugged. “Is nothing to do with me, I suppose.”

“It isn’t, is it?” Susie pressed. “I mean, it must suck enough not being able to do magic without being left behind by all your friends and family and everything.”

“I suppose.”

“Susie,” Claire said. “We’re really not the best people to ask. Why don’t you ask a teacher or something?”

“Fine then,” Susie said, standing. She left her bowl of porridge on the table to go and find someone who would listen to her problem.

Claire rolled her eyes and tore off a strip of toast whilst Valtteri took the available porridge.

“Spoke to Rob yesterday,” Claire said.

“You did?” Valtteri asked, dropping his spoon back into the porridge. “I thought you were going to wait until Defence Against the Dark Arts.”

“Yeah, I know,” Claire said. “Don’t worry, I didn’t mention your name. I don’t think he figured out it was you, though. This is Rob we’re talking about.”

Both of them looked up the table to where Rob was sat. No, there was no way he knew who Claire had been talking about. Valtteri wasn’t sure if he was happy about that or not. If he hadn’t figured it out, there was no chance he was going to get rejected. But, at the same time, Valtteri just wanted to know if he had a chance, and no amount of encouraging conversations with Claire was going to convince him of that.

“So what do I do now?” Valtteri asked, turning back to his porridge.

“How should I know?” Claire asked. “If he hasn’t figured it out by now, he probably isn’t going to. You’re going to have to do it yourself.”

“What?”

“It really isn’t that hard,” Claire said.

“Says you,” Valtteri muttered. “You’ve never had to do it.”

“You’ve got tutoring or something today, haven’t you?” Claire asked.

“First thing,” Valtteri said.

“Then do it then,” Claire said. “Just be like _I heard you talked to Claire. I heard you wanted to know who it was. Ta da. It’s me_.”

Valtteri rolled his eyes, shoving the spoon of honey and porridge into his mouth so he didn’t have to answer.

 

Mornings were something Bruno could very much do without, especially considering the fact he’d spent most of the night having to listen to Felipe moaning. Both of them were late down to breakfast, but neither of them were really awake, having over slept again.

“You’re here late aren’t you?” Karun asked as Bruno pulled Felipe over to sit beside the Slytherin.

“Couldn’t sleep,” Bruno grumbled, attacking the plates of fruit. He wasn’t awake enough for this. They had Muggle Studies next, though, so at least he’d be able to catch up on a little sleep during that lesson.

“Have you figured out what the marks were?” Karun asked, far more awake than his friends.

“No,” Bruno said. That was another thing. He was going to have to ask professor Lauda about that. He did not believe that the teacher was just going to let them get away without any punishment and he really did want to know what had caused the mark, to settle his own curiosity more than anything else.

“What do you think, Felipe?” Karun asked.

“About what?”

“He didn’t tell you?”

“I did,” Bruno said. “He’s got ‘more important’ things to think about.”

Karun gave him a questioning look but Bruno just shook his head and ate his breakfast. He’d spent enough time he would have preferred sleeping during on Felipe’s problem. He didn’t want to talk about it.

“We saw some marks in the Forbidden Forest,” Karun explained. “Lauda seemed a bit worried about them.”

“Really?” Felipe asked. “Why don’t you go and ask him about them?”

“I was going to,” Bruno said around a mouthful of melon.

“Well, if you are going to go now, I would be quick,” Felipe said, nodding towards their head of house, who was already making his way out of the Great Hall. Sometimes the Austrian wasn’t even in the Great Hall by the time Bruno and Felipe came down after a late night, having already left to go to his outdoor classroom. “Go on.”

He gave Bruno a little shove and he stumbled towards the Care For Magical Creatures teacher.

“Professor?”

“If you want an extension on any homework, Senna, you know what the answer is,” Professor Lauda said, marching off in his usual fashion and forcing Bruno to skip to keep up with the teacher.

“No, it was about last night,” Bruno said.

Lauda didn’t answer straight away and Bruno couldn’t see what his teacher was thinking. Once they were outside and it became clear Bruno wasn’t going to leave him alone, the teacher stopped.

“Do you not have a lesson to go to?” he asked.

“Muggle Studies in half an hour, sir,” Bruno said. “Did you find out what it was that made that mark?”

“You mean you did not figure it out?” Professor Lauda asked.

“No sir,” Bruno said. “We haven’t covered it in class… Have we?”

He’d probably dropped himself right into it now. They’d probably studied the exact species of creature only last week and now Lauda would know he hadn’t been paying attention – not that Lauda didn’t know anyway.

“No, we have not,” Lauda said. “It does not matter. It does not concern you. After all, you have no more plans to go into the Forbidden Forest, do you?”

“Of course not,” Bruno said, quickly. “I’m just… curious.”

“Of course,” Lauda said. “Well, you are going to have to stay curious, then, aren’t you?”

 

Felipe was explaining to Karun why he should try to transfer onto Muggle Studies when he saw Rob stand, followed closely by Valtteri.

“Just a second,” Felipe said, the conversation dropping off midsentence.

He caught Valtteri just as he left the hall, pulling him to a stop.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“Have tutoring,” Valtteri said, nodding in the direction Rob had gone off in.

“No, we have Muggle Studies,” Felipe said. “Does Rob know you are skipping classes to go and gawk at him?”

“What?” Valtteri asked. “I’m not skipping classes and I am not gawking at anybody.”

“Right,” Felipe said. “Know you fancy him. Am not an idiot.”

Valtteri stopped struggling for a moment. “Who told you?”

“Am not an idiot,” Felipe said again. He knew it! And Bruno had tried to tell him last night he had nothing to worry about. “Think you should just leave Rob alone from now on, though. Are just going to embarrass yourself.”

“What?”

“Told me, yesterday,” Felipe said. “Said he doesn’t want to be in a relationship and anybody who would try with him is an idiot. Maybe if you were close to him he would have told you this.”

Valtteri didn’t answer. What was there to say? He’d known all along, really. Claire shouldn’t have been putting any ideas into his head. He should have just kept it to himself and none of this would have happened.

“Hey,” Felipe said, gently. “It is alright. There is no harm done.”

“I’m not going to be able to speak to him again,” Valtteri mumbled. He probably wasn’t even going to be able to look at him again, let alone speak. He should have known this was a bad idea. He should have _known_

“It is ok,” Felipe said, putting an arm around Valtteri’s shoulder and leading him off to their Muggle Studies class. “Is not as if Rob knows. You know him. Or maybe you don’t. But he does not see these things. I figured it out, but he did not. And I’m not going to tell him.”

“Really?” Valtteri asked.

“Really,” Felipe said. “As long as you leave him alone.”

 


	20. Meddling

Charms didn’t come close to Sebastian’s best subject, because his ability to make something useful out of the mess of a text book in potions dwarfed any other triumph he could make, but the lesson was definitely his favourite. Dan wasn’t having as much fun, struggling to keep the fact that he couldn’t get the feather in front of him to even hop to himself.

Dan could see Professor Schumacher, who was making his way around the classroom, glance over in his direction every couple of minutes, and that did nothing but add to the pressure. Everyone was able to levitate their feather at least a few inches off of the table, but there was nothing.

“Have you tried it like this?” Hanna asked, unhelpfully reciting the spell that Dan had been saying over and over.

“ _Yes,_ ” Dan said through gritted teeth.

Hanna sighed and elbowed Sebastian, who didn’t seem to be paying any attention to Dan’s immediate problem at all, to try and get a reaction from him.

“Oh, yeah,” he said, letting his own feather drop gently back to the table. “It probably just needs practice, yes?”

“Probably,” Dan said, wishing the pair of them would stop looking at him, drawing attention to him. He didn’t want Professor Schumacher to come over. It would only make things worse. Jev would make a comment, Sebastian would snap back and they would get into the same old argument again and he did _not_ want to end up outside at a billion feet up again.

He just needed practice and he would get there. There was no need for anybody to notice that he clearly couldn’t do this.

“Mr Ricciardo?”

Dan didn’t look up even when the teacher was stood right in front of him.

“Yes sir?”

“Are you alright?” Professor Schumacher asked.

“Just fine sir,” Dan said with a cheery smile, looking up at his doubtful head of house.

“Could I have a word with you outside?” Professor Schumacher asked.

“I really am fine sir,” Dan said, hopefully.

“Could I have a word with you outside, please?”

Dan sighed, but nodded anyway, following his head of house out of the classroom.

“Daniel,” Professor Schumacher began, closing the door behind him. “I know you have been having a little trouble.”

“I’ll catch up,” Dan said. “It’s fine. Just having a little trouble. Guess not everyone can do everything first time.”

“A little trouble with Mr Vergne,” Professor Schumacher clarified.

Dan resisted the urge to sigh and fell back to lean against the wall. “It really is nothing, Professor.”

“And how do you explain the fact you were out at the top of the Astronomy tower during my lesson?” Professor Schumacher asked, folding his arms and watching Dan.

“I can handle things, sir,” Dan insisted. “I don’t know why Seb and Hanna came to you. I really am fine.”

“Alright then,” Professor Schumacher said, unconvinced. “But if you’re not, you can come to me, Daniel. There is no shame in it and we can work on solving whatever the problem is.”

“There is no problem, sir,” Dan said with what was becoming his trade mark smile. “Is that it? Do you mind if I go back?” He jerked his thumb back to the door, pushing himself off of the wall.

“Yes, of course,” the teacher said, opening the door again to let Dan inside.

 

Valtteri was quiet – quieter than usual – during Transfiguration, and it hadn’t gone unnoticed. Fernando and Jenson watched from the table behind as the younger student struggled to focus. Even Professor Williams looked concerned when Valtteri wasn’t the first one to answer a question (not that anybody else in the class other than Mark knew what he was talking about).

Jenson had more important things to be concerned about, though.

“He wants to tell his dad.”

“I thought you could not tell him,” Fernando said, his voice dropping to a whisper when their teacher passed.

“We can’t,” Jenson said. He glanced over at Nico, sat on the other side of the classroom and out of ear shot. “But Nico thinks he might find out anyway, and it’s better coming from him than anybody else.”

“Well, this is true,” Fernando admitted. “But why does he think that? Not because of us.”

“I don’t know,” Jenson said. He did. And he understood why Nico was worried. What if it had been one of the other prefects to have walked into the bathroom that night, or someone else who noticed them talking just a little too often? But they’d been doing this for years now and they were fine. Nico couldn’t think that, just because Mark and Fernando had found them, it meant someone else would. Could he?

“What are you going to do about it?” Fernando asked.

“I don’t know what I can do,” Jenson said.

“Mr Button? Mr Alonso?” Professor Williams stopped beside their desk, nodding down to the very still and lifeless rubber balls on the boy’s desk.

“Er, yep, yes sir,” Jenson stumbled, trying to remember what they were supposed to be doing. “Just going through my notes again, sir.”

On the desk in front of them, Lewis’ rubber ball caught fire, which Jenson guessed wasn’t what they were supposed to be doing, distracting the teacher for long enough.

“Will talk about it later,” Fernando promised.

 

“Where were you this morning?” Rob asked, catching Valtteri at lunch. “I thought we had tutoring?”

“Yeah…” Valtteri said, looking down at his shoes. He’d thought about going, about telling Rob he didn’t want tutoring anymore, but had thought it best to leave it until the end of the day to decide if he would go back. By that point the decision would already be made, he reasoned. Clearly, his decision would be not to go back. “Think it may be best if Claire tutors me.”

“What?”

“Think it may be best if Claire tutors me,” Valtteri said. “I mean, instead of you.”

“Yeah, I heard what you said,” Rob said, grabbing Valtteri’s arm again before he could sneak off to the bench. “But why?”

Valtteri shrugged. He just couldn’t risk Rob finding out, and Felipe was less likely to tell him if he wasn’t getting tutored anymore, he figured.

“This is stupid,” Rob said. “You could have at least come and told me. What’s happened? Is it something I’ve done?”

“No,” Valtteri said, quickly.

“Is this because I didn’t want to go with you to Hogsmeade?” Rob asked. “Because I did, but it’s one of the only times during school hours I can tutor Felipe and he’s got this exam at Christmas he needs to pass.”

“Is not about that,” Valtteri said. “Really, is not you, Rob.”

“Then what is it?” Rob asked. “Because I’m not losing my star student to Claire Williams. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing is wrong,” Valtteri insisted, shaking off Rob’s hand. “Just leave me alone.”

Rob stared after him, confused, as Valtteri marched off, almost walking _into_ Kimi on his way to sit between Claire and Susie. He thought for a moment about following him and demanding an answer, but shook his head and instead sat amongst his own friends. There must be something in the water, making people act weird. He hoped it wasn’t contagious.

 

“I’m not going over,” Dan said, watching his friends watch Valtteri cross the Great Hall. He was seriously considering getting himself some new friends, ones that didn’t get him into trouble all the time.

“He needs to trust you, Dan,” Hanna said, turning back to her food. “What did Professor Schumacher want, anyway?”

“To know why you two are trying to cause trouble,” Dan said. “And Bottas isn’t going to trust me if I’m hanging around all the time. He’s going to think it’s weird. Because it is weird.”

“What are you talking about?” Kimi asked, ignoring the comments as he sat down with the first years. There was no news of a new incident this morning. Things were possibly getting better for Sebastian, but he wasn’t going to leave it be.

“Bottas,” Sebastian said, still watching the Ravenclaw.

“You’re still trying to figure out a way to get the time turner from him?” Kimi asked.

“Yeah,” Sebastian said.

Kimi placed the time turner on Sebastian’s plate.

“I’m an opportunist.”

Hanna stared at the time turner a moment, the little instrument sitting inconspicuously on Sebastian’s plate, as if there was nothing wrong with it being there, before snatching it up and placing it in her pocket. She looked up at Kimi for an explanation, but he wasn’t going to give anymore.

“So what do we do with it?” Sebastian asked.

“We’re not doing anything with it,” Dan said. They were going to get in so much trouble for this.

“We can’t just give it up,” Hanna said. “It wouldn’t be right.”

“Yes it would,” Dan insisted. “Right, fine then. Whatever it is you’re planning on doing, I want no part in it, alright?”

“Come on, Dan,” Sebastian said, pulling him back onto the bench when the Australian tried to stand and walk away. “We’re doing it for you.”

“And you went to talk to Professor Schumacher for me and all but I didn’t want you to.”

It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate them wanting to help, because he did. It was more than anybody else had ever wanted to do with him, and he liked their concern. But they were going about it in exactly the wrong way and he didn’t like it. He just wanted them to listen to him for once.

“Don’t be stupid, Dan,” Hanna said. “We’ll make things better for you. And you can back out whenever you want.”

“I want to back out now,” Dan said. “And I want you to come with me.”

“Don’t be such a spoil sport,” Hanna said. “You were all for it when you were going on about pizza.”

“Pizza is different,” Dan said. “And I never wanted to steal the stupid thing in the first place. We are going to get in so much trouble.”

“Nobody is going to find out,” Hanna insisted. “Calm down. It’s as if you don’t trust me or something.”

“I don’t,” Dan said, shaking off Sebastian’s hand again, even though he didn’t have anywhere else to go. He didn’t fancy risking getting struck by another one of Jev’s schemes either. At least there was little risk of death with Hanna and Sebastian. He hoped.

 

“But he’s an idiot,” Susie finished. At least, Claire hoped she’d finished. She’d become somewhat obsessed with finding someone who would agree with her about squibs and Claire had sat through her action plan.

Valtteri sat down between them, looking even more annoyed than usual, and Claire could see Susie was about to begin her entire explanation again.

“What’s wrong?” Claire asked, quickly.

“Would you be able to tutor me?” Valtteri asked, quietly, ignoring Susie’s annoyed groan.

“What happened with Rob?” Claire asked.

“Does not matter,” Valtteri muttered, not looking at either of the girls. “Can you tutor me or not?”

“Yeah, sure,” Claire said. “But what about Rob? Did you… did you speak to him?”

“Yes,” Valtteri said, shortly. “And he is not going to tutor me anymore.”

“What’s wrong?” Susie asked. The only answer she got was a cold glare from Valtteri. She frowned back, unable to replicate her friend’s look. “I can tell when I’m not wanted,” she said, pulling her bag onto her shoulder. “Maybe I’ll _actually_ go and get something done, instead of sitting around with you two bigot.”

“What?”

“Ignore her,” Claire said, watching Susie leave. She’d deal with her another time, when she knew what she needed to do to convince the Hufflepuff she was fighting a lost cause. “Do you need me to talk to Rob? I mean, I know he’s an idiot but I’m sure you can still be friends, right?”

“Do not want to be friends,” Valtteri said. “Just leave it. The damage is already done.”

Claire didn’t reply, letting her friend eat his lunch in silence. She glanced down the table at Rob who, as always, seemed oblivious to everything. If Valtteri thought she was just going to leave this be, he had another thought coming.


	21. Solving Problems

It was theory work in Defence Against The Dark Arts, which made it a little harder for Claire to speak to Rob without Professor Rosberg hearing. Thankfully, Rosberg had a lovely habit of leaving the older students alone whilst they were reading, so it wasn’t long until he had slipped out of the class.

“Rob,” Claire hissed, attracting a glare from a couple of the other students who would much rather everyone continue silently reading. “Rob.”

“What?” Rob hissed back.

Claire moved into the seat beside Rob’s, elbowing the other student out of the way. The other student didn’t complain, shuffling away to give the pair of them some space.

“Look,” Claire said, as quietly as possible. “I know things aren’t exactly going to be ‘normal’ between you and Valtteri anymore, but there’s no need to stop tutoring.”

“What are you talking about?”

“So what if he fancies you anyway?” Claire continued. “I’m pretty sure he has some self control. He didn’t even want to tell you until I convinced him otherwise.”

“It’s _Valtteri_ who fancies me?” Rob spluttered, unable to keep his voice down. “What?”

Claire froze. “You didn’t know.”

“Of course not,” Rob cried, attracting a glare from the students around him. “Why would I even _think_ it was him?”

“I thought he told you,” Claire said. “And that’s why you didn’t want to tutor him anymore.”

“I was _fine_ tutoring him,” Rob said. “It was him who just didn’t show up and then said he didn’t want me to tutor him anymore. He _fancies_ me?”

“Yes, Rob, keep your bloody voice down,” Claire snapped.

Rob shook his head. He couldn’t really believe this. _Valtteri_ of all people. If Claire had said Felipe – well, he would still be surprised but not _quite_ as surprised. Valtteri was a smart kid. Why would he even think a relationship was a good idea?

“I need to speak to him,” Rob said, quietly.

“Yeah, you do,” Claire said. “I don’t mind tutoring him, but you can’t let something like this stop you both. It’s stupid.”

“Yeah,” Rob said. The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. At the same time, the weirder it became because Rob… Rob wasn’t completely horrified at the idea of going to speak to the fourth year.

 

“What if you just had a secret meeting place?” Fernando suggested.

They were sat in the Gryffindor common room on their free period, playing exploding snap and definitely not hiding from Mark, who thought it was a good idea to get their homework done as soon as it was set.

“That sounds stupid,” Jenson said, honestly. He knew his friend was just trying to help but there was no point dressing it up as anything other than stupid.

“No, is not,” Fernando said, annoyed. “Could pretend to have fallen out – say Nico was trying to get secrets about our quidditch team out of you or something like that – and then nobody would suspect that you even liked each other. Then could go to secret meetings with each other. And I would bring you and Mark would bring Nico and we would pretend we were having meetings because we do not want our friends to have fallen out, but then we could leave and you could… do whatever it was you were going to do in the bathroom together when Mark and I found you.”

“We weren’t going to do anything,” Jenson said.

“Yeah, sure,” Fernando scoffed. “Does not matter to me anyway. You could be together and happy and nobody would find out.”

“We would just have to act like we hated each other outside of this secret meeting place of yours,” Jenson said.

“Will not be that hard,” Fernando said. “Will help you if you like.”

“I don’t know,” Jenson said. It wasn’t the worst idea he had ever heard come out of his friend’s mouth, and sounded a lot better than some of the other things he had suggested since they left the charms lesson.

“Ask Nico,” Fernando suggested. “Maybe he will be able to see my genius better than you can.”

Jenson rolled his eyes and placed another card down.

 

“Woah, hang on a second.”

Felipe sighed, but didn’t look up from his book, even when the new comer dumped his bag on the table and fell into the seat beside him. Opposite him, Bruno spared him a glance before returning to his book.

“Felipe Massa and Bruno Senna,” Lewis said, putting his arm around Felipe. “In the _library_. Actually _studying_.”

He leaned over to try to see what Felipe was reading, but Felipe pulled the book away from him, shrugging off his friendly gesture.

“Go and annoy someone else,” Bruno suggested.

He wasn’t, _technically_ , studying, but he didn’t have anything better to do whilst Karun was in his Divination lesson and Felipe was insisting on revising for Lauda’s stupid Christmas exam, so he’d decided to see if he could figure out what had made the marks in the Forbidden Forest.

“What’s this for anyway?” Lewis asked. “Oh, you didn’t meet the forty per cent, did you? Jenson told me about that. Doesn’t look like you’re going to be on the team much longer, does it?”

“Will be on the team for as long as Jenson needs me to be,” Felipe said, still not looking up from his own text book. He had a plan, of sorts. One that would end years of work. All he needed to do was convince Rob that being in a relationship wouldn’t be _so_ bad and then, “oh, by the way, it was me Claire was talking about” and everything would be sorted out for the best. Sure, Rob probably wasn’t going to be impressed if he ever found out Felipe had spent important revision time plotting all this, but he wouldn’t find out.

“You really think either of you two are going to pass that exam?” Lewis asked.

“I don’t need to take any exam,” Bruno boasted. “And you give Felipe any obstacle when it comes to Quidditch and he’ll pass it. Why don’t you piss off and go and annoy Nico or something?”

“Oh, but annoying you two is so much more fun,” Lewis said.

“Oi.”

They all looked up to find Rob standing at the end of the next table.

“If he’s actually studying for once, leave him be,” he said.

Lewis rolled his eyes, but he wasn’t about to get into an argument with an older student, especially not one he knew was a teacher’s pet.

“See you at practice on Saturday,” he said, standing to leave.

Rob slid into the vacated chair. He’d been hoping to find Valtteri about but, so far, there was no sign of him. The fourth year would probably be in a lesson or something, knowing the amount of lessons he’d taken on.

“You haven’t seen Valtteri about, have you?” Rob asked. Felipe seemed to have a better track on the Finn as he did.

“Not since this morning,” Felipe said, ignoring the look Bruno shot him. “Why?”

“He just missed some tutoring earlier,” Rob lied.

“You take Care for Magical Creatures, don’t you?” Bruno asked.

“Yeah,” Rob said, slowly. He wasn’t about to be pulled into any of the pair’s tricks. “Why?”

“Do you know what could make something like this?” Bruno asked, pushing the sketch he had drawn towards the Ravenclaw. He was no closer to finding out what had made it than he had been in the Forbidden Forest and he was not about to take Professor Lauda’s advice and leave it.

Rob peered at the drawing for a couple of moments, doing his best to answer the question. He’d seen claw marks like that before, but not in any of his Care for Magical Creatures classes.

“It looks…” Rob said, slowly, bringing the sketch closer because that couldn’t be right. “I mean, I might be wrong and it could be something else, but it _looks_ like a werewolf.”

He looked up at Bruno, hoping he got the message that Rob was in no way confident in his answer. Bruno looked back in shock and took the paper away.

“Why?” Rob asked.

“Nothing,” Bruno said, quickly. “Just… research.”

“You want to follow in your uncle’s footsteps?” Rob asked. That had been the kind of thing he’d done, right?

“No,” Bruno said, quickly, packing away his things. “I want to do my own thing. Are you coming Felipe, or…?”

“Am going to stay here,” Felipe said, smiling at his friend as he left.

“Course,” Bruno said, looking between Rob and Felipe. “See you later.”

“Bye.”

Rob watched him go, and was slightly amazed by the fact that Felipe hadn’t gone with him. He really was trying. Yes, the world had definitely gone mad.

“Are you ill?” Rob asked. It came out as a joke but it wasn’t supposed to.

Felipe smiled at him, looking up from the book for just a moment. “Is peaceful here. When people are not bugging me.”

“Sorry,” Rob laughed. “I’ll just go then.”

“Did not mean you,” Felipe said, resting a hand on Rob’s arm when he made to get up. “You can stay.”

“Thanks,” Rob said. “Actually, can I talk to you about something?”

“If this is a surprise test,” Felipe said, wearily.

“No, nothing like that,” Rob said. “No. It’s about me. Do you think… God, I’ve no idea why I’m asking you of all people, Felipe, but do you think it would be stupid of me to get into a relationship?”

Felipe blinked at him, stupidly. Well, that had been easier than expected. He didn’t have to use any spells or potions or anything.

“I… guess not,” Felipe said, slowly. He didn’t really believe this was happening. “Am sure you could manage it. Find a way to make sure it did not get in the way of anyone’s learning. I do not think it would be stupid, Rob. Are very clever. You would find a way.”

“You don’t think it would be distracting?” Rob asked.

“No more distracting than you already are, I am sure,” Felipe said, grinning. “And, if it is, then maybe you and this person could agree to stop until after you are both finished with school, if you think that is the best way for you both.”

Rob smiled, nodding along with Felipe. When he wanted to, the kid actually could talk some sense.

“That… that makes sense,” Rob said. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” Felipe said, beaming.

“Right,” Rob said, standing. “Well, I’ll see you later, alright? Thanks again for the help.”

Felipe held his breath as he watched Rob leave the library, only turning back to his text book when the Ravenclaw was out of sight. It had taken him a while, but Rob had finally caught up with him.

 

“What are we going to do with it?” Sebastian asked, hurring after Hanna as they left the Muggle Studies class.

Hanna still had the time turner in her pocket. They hadn’t had a chance to do anything with it yet, or that was the excuse Hanna was using.

“You’re not scared, are you?” Sebastian asked.

“No,” Hanna said. “But I’m not entirely sure how it works and I would rather we finished all our lessons before we get sucked into some time worm hole thing.”

“Well, we’ve finished lessons now,” Sebastian said, pulling Hanna out of the main heard of students heading down to dinner. Dan followed them close behind, not used to the duty of care he had over someone else but figuring that, if Sebastian and Hanna needed looking after, it was going to need to be him that looked after them.

“What are we going to do with it?” Sebastian asked again.

“We go and have some fun with Jev,” Hanna said. “He wasn’t in the last lesson, was he? Why do you think that is?”

“No,” Dan said. “Please, guys. Don’t do anything stupid.”

“It’s already been done,” Hanna pointed out.

Dan rolled his eyes. Stupid time travel making his friends do stupid things.

“Fine then,” he said, folding his arms. “But at least give the time turner back to Valtteri before he finds out its missing. Please.”

“Sure,” Hanna said, grabbing hold of Sebastian’s hand and pulling him away from Dan.

Dan watched them go. He got the feeling he should probably go and clean up the mess they were going to make. Or had made. Or however this kind of thing worked.


	22. Werewolves and Time Travel

Jev smirked when he saw Sebastian and Hanna turn the corner.

“Where’s your friend?” he asked, noticing Dan was missing from the picture. “Has he already run off home?”

There was nobody else in the corridor. Jev had taken a short cut he’d discovered and he didn’t really want anyone else finding out about it just yet. There were some things that were best being kept to yourself, and he was sure this was one of them.

If it were anybody else, Jev would have been the tiniest bit nervous about being alone in a quiet part of the castle with two people he had successfully managed to make hate his guts, but he knew Hanna and Sebastian wouldn’t dare miss a lesson, unless it was to help the mudblood out of trouble.

Which was why he was more than a little confused when they continued to walk towards him – in the wrong direction to head to lesson.

“What has gotten into you two today?” he asked, backing away a little.

“Nothing,” Sebastian said. “We just thought you could do with a taste of your own medicine.”

 

“Werewolf,” Bruno cried, catching Karun on his way down from Divination.

Karun froze, staring at Bruno for a couple of moments. His friend was grinning, and that wasn’t the usual facial expression people had just after they’d shouted “werewolf”, or at least in his experience.

“What?”

“The marks in the Forbidden Forest,” Bruno explained, lowering his voice a little because even someone who got into trouble as often as he did could do without added hassle. “They’re from a werewolf.”

He’d known he’d seen something like that before, and as soon as Rob had said it, he’d realised what he’d missed.

“No wonder Professor Lauda was worried about it,” Bruno said, still grinning as he led Karun down to dinner. “I mean, I probably should too. No wondering about in the Forbidden Forest on a full moon, hey?”

He nudged Karun’s side, but his friend didn’t share his grin.

“Are you alright?”

“Fine,” Karun lied. “Just some weird things in Divination. Nothing to worry about.”

“What weird things?” Bruno asked, his grin falling. He didn’t believe in any of that rubbish – hence why he didn’t take the class – but there were sometimes some strange… _coincidences_ and he liked to be prepared for them.

“Probably nothing,” Karun said, quickly. “Probably just making stuff up to pass the class.”

“Are you sure?” Bruno asked. “Because we can always go back to the teacher and check if you’re worried.”

He’d found it was better to be safe than sorry with this of all classes, even if he didn’t believe any of it was true.

“No, it’s fine,” Karun said. “What do you think they’ll have for dinner?”

“No idea,” Bruno said. “You know what this means, don’t you?”

“That you don’t know what’s for dinner?” Karun asked, a smile returning to his own face.

“ _No_ ,” Bruno said. “It means there’s someone at Hogwarts who’s a werewolf. Someone new, I’d guess, judging by the look on Lauda’s face.”

“You don’t think he knew about it,” Karun asked, his smile wavering a little.

“There’s nothing to be scared about,” Bruno said, assuming that was the problem. If he were honest, a werewolf at the school _did_ sound like a bit of a problem, but there would be someone managing it. These things didn’t go unnoticed. “You’re alright, aren’t you?”

“Yeah,” Karun lied, not looking at Bruno. “Yeah, I’m fine. Don’t worry.”

“Are you sure?” Bruno asked. “Believe me, this isn’t really anything to worry about. The teachers will know what to do. Lauda figured it out and the others probably already know by now. If it is a danger then the teachers will not let the student stay here. Unless it’s a teacher- that would be weird.”

“It’s me,” Karun spat out, before clamping his hands over his mouth. He couldn’t believe he’d said that.

Bruno stopped walking, pulling Karun to a stop too. Karun’s face had gone red so fast it couldn’t be healthy, his eyes wide and beginning to fill with tears.

“What do you mean…?” Bruno asked, pulling his friend’s hands away from his mouth so he could speak.

“It’s me,” Karun whispered, shaking. He couldn’t come up with a lie. He couldn’t think of a way to cover this up. Bruno was right. He was going to get shipped out of this school like he had done his last one. Maybe next time he would be able to go longer than a couple of weeks without doing something stupid.

“What do you mean?” Bruno asked again, because Karun couldn’t mean what it sounded like he meant.

Karun shrugged Bruno away, hurrying down the stairs and ducking into a corridor he’d never been down before. Bruno ran after him, almost tripping over his own feet, and Karun sank to the floor when Bruno grabbed hold of him again.

“It’s ok,” Bruno said, trying not to panic as he sat down too, holding Karun whilst he cried. “It’s ok. You’re ok. I’ve got you. Don’t worry.”

“It’s me it’s me it’s me,” Karun mumbled over and over again, hiding his face from Bruno. “You’re going out with a monster. I’m sorry.”

“Hey, you’re no monster,” Bruno said, gently, running his fingers through Karun’s hair. “You’re not a monster, Karun, look at me.”

Karun didn’t look up, screwing his eyes shut. Not only was he a monster but he’d also burst into tears in front of a boy he barely even knew and this wasn’t looking good for him at the moment.

“You’re not a monster, Karun, don’t be silly,” Bruno said. “You’re you. And I love you.”

Karun choked back a laugh that turned into a sob, shaking his head. “You don’t know me, Bruno.”

“No more than you don’t know me,” Bruno said with a laugh. “But you still trust me, for some reason. And I still trust you. And I love you.”

“I love you too,” Karun said, quietly. “I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” Bruno said. “This isn’t your fault, is it?”

“I don’t… I guess not,” Karun said, quietly.

“Is this… Is this a new thing?” Bruno asked. He wasn’t entirely sure what to say. Finding out your boyfriend’s a werewolf hadn’t been covered in any of his lessons so far, not that he was aware, anyway.

Karun shook his head. “Not… not really. It started a couple of months before the summer. We had a school trip. I wondered off. So it was my fault… really…”

“Hey,” Bruno said, gently, lifting Karun’s chin and forcing him to look up at him. “This isn’t your fault. I guess this is why you left your old school, hey?”

Karun nodded, dragging his eyes away from Bruno again.

Bruno sighed. “Do you have… medication or something? I don’t know. I should probably pay more attention in our Care for Magical Creatures class.”

Karun shook his head. “I don’t… I don’t have anything. I snuck out last time. I thought, if I went to the Forbidden Forest before I… changed, I wouldn’t be able to hurt anyone.”

“Well, that’s a good idea,” Bruno said. A really good idea, he thought anyway. He would never have thought of something like that. “Maybe there is medication or something. Something you can take to calm you down or something. Have you looked? Sorry. I’m being stupid. Of course you’ve looked.”

“Mum and Dad did a little research before,” Karun mumbled. “We didn’t find anything.”

“I’ll do some research, ok,” Bruno said. “We’ll find a way to solve it. And… and if there isn’t a way, then we’ll come up with something else. You’re not alone. I promise.”

 

Dan was stood at the bottom of the astronomy tower, looking up uncertainly. He couldn’t be sure Hanna and Sebastian had already finished what he was sure they had planned. How long would it take? They’d had the extra hour, and a little longer because Dan had gotten lost trying to make his way here from the Muggle Studies classroom. They would be finished by now, wouldn’t they?

Once he’d decided the only way to find out would be to go up there, Dan hurried up the stairs. There was no lesson on, and nobody wondering up and down the stairs. It was eerily quiet here. He didn’t like it. His friends had gone messing about with time and he didn’t like it at all.

It was kind of sad that his friends were so predictable, he thought. At least Jev would be able to see whatever it was they had planned next, he figured. Not that he was siding with the Slytherin, of course, but Sebastian and Hanna were less likely to get themselves into trouble that way.

Breathless, Dan reached the top of the tower, the silence still ringing in his ears. There was nobody up here, like he’d expected. Hanna and Sebastian must have already gone down for dinner. He couldn’t see anything through the frosted glass of the window Hanna had pulled him through and began to doubt himself. He didn’t know what else they could do.

A little less certain than before, Dan pushed open the window, reaching out to see if his friends had done what he’d thought they’d done.

A hand grabbed onto his, and Dan pulled Jev back through the window.

“Where are they?” Jev snapped, glaring at Jev. He was physically shaking, but Dan guessed that was just from the cold.

“I just saved your life,” Dan pointed out. “And thank you would do nicely.”

“You did not save my life,” Jev spat. “I did not need to be rescued by you.”

“Yeah, sure. Do you want to go back out on the ledge?”

“Where are they?” Jev said again.

“I don’t know, I wasn’t with them,” Dan said. “It’s not nice being out there, is it?”

“You weren’t with them but you knew what they were going to do?” Jev asked. “And you didn’t report them?”

“I didn’t report you when you did it to me, why should I report them?” Dan pointed out. “Are you alright, mate? You’re still shaking.”

“I am not your _mate_ ,” Jev spat, his hands curling into fists to stop himself shaking so much, but it didn’t work.

“Do you need to go to the hospital wing?” Dan asked. He wasn’t sure why he was being so… But this was the right thing to do.

“I’m _fine_ ,” Jev snapped, shrugging Dan away from him and marching off down the stairs. Dan sighed and waited a couple of moments to give him a head start before following him down the stairs.

There was a clatter and the sound of someone slipping down the stairs echoing in the silence. Dan raced after Jev as the Slytherin fell down the stairs, finally managing to catch up with him. He caught the other boy around halfway down, blood coming from his head.

“Shit.”


	23. More Plotting

“Is he going to be alright?” Dan asked, watching Jev sleep.

“He should be just fine,” the nurse said, trying to get Dan to leave, but the first year was rooted to the spot. “He was very lucky you found him, though. Any longer and any damage that had been done would be difficult to reverse.”

Dan gulped and nodded. Nobody needed to know what Sebastian and Hanna had done. For all he knew, that had nothing to do with what had happened to Jev. He’d just slipped and fallen down the stairs. Being out on the ledge hadn’t _caused_ this.

“How long until he wakes up?” Dan asked.

“Oh, he’ll only stay overnight,” the nurse said, managing to lead Dan away from the bed a little. “We’ll do some checks in the morning and he’ll be back in lessons by tomorrow lunch. Your friend’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”

“He’s not my friend,” Dan said, quickly, glancing back at Jev. He could imagine Jev would be cringing at that if he wasn’t fast asleep.

“Alright,” the nurse said in a tone she didn’t _mean_ to be patronising. “You should go down and get some dinner now.”

“Yeah,” Dan said. And he also needed to have a serious talk with Sebastian and Hanna.

 

“Hey, Valtteri!”

Valtteri kept his head down and his eyes on his food, as if not paying attention ever made anyone go away. Claire was in the middle of an argument (passionate debate) with Susie about why Squibs wouldn’t even _want_ to come to Hogwarts, so he wasn’t going to get any help from her.

He felt someone sit down beside him and preyed it wasn’t who he thought it was. He just wanted to go one day without wanting to melt into the floor, and he’d nearly done it.

“Valtteri, look at me.”

Nope, it was Rob.

Valtteri didn’t look up from his food, still hoping the ignore them and they’ll go away plan would work.

“Claire spoke to me,” Rob said, not waiting for Valtteri to look up. “She explained why you wanted her to tutor you instead of me.”

Valtteri glanced over at Claire, but she was too engrossed in her conversation with Susie – one she’d been avoiding since Susie started it, he remembered – and didn’t seem to be listening.

“And I’ve been doing some thinking,” Rob said. “She told me you liked me.”

Valtteri glared at the back of Claire’s head. He should have known she would have given him away.

“And… and, when I was doing my thinking, I thought that, maybe, we could give things a go?” Rob suggested.

Valtteri rolled his eyes. “You do not have to humour me,” he mumbled. He didn’t want to be treated like a child with a stupid crush. He didn’t want to be pitied and laughed at. He just wanted to put all this behind him and hope Rob and Felipe and Claire never brought it up again.

“I’m not,” Rob said. “I like you. Really.”

Valtteri sighed. He didn’t need this right now. He just wanted to come and eat his dinner before he had to disappear off and take his extra lessons. He did not need to be dealing with all of this right now, but apparently having a peaceful dinner was out of the question, so Valtteri pushed himself off of the table, mumbling a goodbye to Claire – who still didn’t seem to be paying any attention – and hurried out of the hall, almost walking into Hanna and Seb on his way out.

Rob followed him.

“I’m not making fun of you, Valtteri,” Rob called after him, dragging the fourth year to a stop as soon as he caught up with him. “I want to make this work. Or at least give it a go. I ruled it out because I thought it was just some idiot who would see me as some kind of challenge, but you’re not. You’re like me. And you get it.”

Valtteri wasn’t looking at him, his cheeks burning whilst his eyes stayed on the floor. He didn’t know if he wanted Rob to leave him alone or not. It depended on whether he was being serious, but Valtteri couldn’t tell.

Rob smiled down at him, rubbing the back of Valtteri’s hand with his thumb.

“I never meant for this to happen,” Valtteri mumbled. “I wanted tutoring because I need it if I’m going to pass any O.W.Ls, and I wanted you because, if you’ve managed to keep Felipe Massa passing every year then I knew you could help me. I didn’t… I didn’t plan all this, you know?”

“I know,” Rob said, softly. “I get it.”

“Would maybe be easier if I hadn’t…” Valtteri said. He still wouldn’t look at Rob. He knew as soon as he looked at the Brit he would go along with whatever Rob said and he didn’t want that to happen.

“Maybe,” Rob said. “But easier isn’t always better.”

He let go off Valtteri’s hand to lift the Finn’s chin and finally Valtteri looked up at him. Rob smiled, uncertainly. He didn’t even know why he wanted this, but he wanted to give it a try, and he knew Valtteri wanted to too.

Valtteri smiled back. “We’ll try.”

 

“A secret meeting place?” Nico asked over dinner, staring at Jenson as if he were mad. “That is the stupidest idea I have ever heard.”

“That’s what I told Nando,” Jenson said. He hadn’t really expected anything else from his boyfriend, but they had to do something. Even Nico’s presence at the Gryffindor table was beginning to unsettle his father, Jenson noticed, and they weren’t going to be able to do this without Professor Rosberg getting suspicious. “But what other ideas do we have.”

Nico sighed, annoyed. He still hadn’t come up with a way of telling his father without the teacher completely flipping out. There was probably a potion or a spell he could use, convince him that not all Gryffindors were evil and out to kill Slytherins. He seemed to be ok with them being friends, though…

“But where?” Nico asked, eventually.

“No idea,” Jenson admitted. It wasn’t exactly as if there would be many places in the castle that Nico’s father didn’t know about that they did. He knew some of the students knew secret passageways and locked away rooms that would be useful, but there would always be a chance, and Nico wasn’t going to be comfortable with this unless it was one hundred per cent fool proof. Not that he would be comfortable with much less. “I’ll get searching, alright. We’ll go this. Only three more years anyway.”

“Only,” Nico muttered, as if that could cheer him up. “Only three more years.”

“We’ve made it this far,” Jenson reminded him with a smile. “Fernando will help. And Mark. If there’s anyone who can find somewhere, it’ll be him.”

“Alright,” Nico said. “Alright, but I’m still going to try to come up with a way to tell my dad. In case this doesn’t work.”

“Of course,” Jenson said, trying not to show how far his stomach sank as his boyfriend spoke. They needed to find a room, and they needed to find one fast.

 

“You two are a pair of massive idiots,” Dan snapped, sitting between Hanna and Seb, who were grinning and giggling to each other. He would much rather have sat somewhere else, if he were honest, but he was not going to let them walk away from what they’d done. They could have _killed_ Jev and, as much as Dan did not like the Slytherin, killing someone was a bit extreme. “And you,” Dan said, pointing to Kimi as he passed. “You’re an idiot as well, for helping these idiots.”

“Do not know what you are talking about,” Kimi said, innocently. He didn’t stop to sit with the first years, wondering up the table to sit with his own friends.

“What is wrong with you, Dan?” Sebastian asked, pulling his friend back into his seat when he went to follow Kimi.

“You nearly killed him,” Dan hissed, shrugging off Sebastian’s hand. “I hate him as much as you do, _with good reason_ , but he’s lying in the hospital wing right now with his head smashed open and was that really what you were trying to accomplish?”

“What are you talking about?” Hanna asked, paying little attention to Dan whilst she ate. “We only did what he did to you.”

“And it sent him in a panic and he fell down the stairs,” Dan snapped. “And you don’t think he’s going to go to Professor Rosberg about this? You’ll be out of Hogwarts by Monday. So congratulations, guys. Don’t do things in my name in future, alright? I can look after myself.”

Dan stood again, marching off and ignoring Sebastian’s calls to come back. He stopped by Kimi, not letting the Finn get away with his part in Hanna’s plan.

“I thought you were supposed to be looking after them,” he snapped, making sure Kimi was listening to what he had to say. “Not getting them in even more trouble.”

He didn’t wait for the Finn’s reply before continuing his march out of the hall.

 

“So, what kind of things should I know?” Bruno asked, quietly, not wanting anybody else at the table to hear what they were talking about. Nobody seemed to be paying them any attention and that seemed to be enough for Karun, but Bruno wanted to make sure.

Karun shrugged. “Have you not covered werewolves before?”

Bruno shook his head. “Not yet no. It’s not like there’s going to be any better person to learn from than you, is there?”

“Probably,” Karun said. “I don’t know much about it myself. I don’t remember what I do when I’m… _changed_ , in the morning. It’s all just blank. But I’ve _seen_ it. And it isn’t nice. That’s why I went to the Forbidden Forest. It’s not exactly nice there, but at least there isn’t anybody to hurt.”

“But do you have to, I don’t know, eat certain things?” Bruno asked, making Karun laugh.

“Like what?”

“Well, I don’t know,” Bruno said, happy to see Karun happy. “Maybe you need… different vitamins.”

“Maybe I do,” Karun said. “It’s not really as if there’s plenty of information on this kind of thing. Or a doctor I can go to.”

“Maybe I can ask Lauda,” Bruno said. “He’s got to know something about them, right? He killed one once, I think.”

“That fills me with hope,” Karun said.

“Oh,” Bruno said, realising what he had said. “No, sorry. I wouldn’t mention you or anyone. Just… say I knew what the marks in the forest were and wanted more information.”

“You think he’d speak to you?”

“Lauda loves me,” Bruno said, grinning. “Probably not no, but it’s worth a try, isn’t it?”

“I guess,” Karun said with a sigh. He turned back to his food and Bruno did the same. The concentration on the Brazilian’s face suggested he was still thinking about it as he pushed potatoes around his gravy soaked plate and Karun couldn’t help smiling. He cared, and that was more than Karun had expected from anybody.


	24. Abnormalities of Personality

Dan didn’t know why, but he was in the hospital wing as soon as possible the next morning. There were only a few other students there, most of them coping with the usual does of fresher’s flu that swept through the school every September.   
Jev was sat up in his bed at the end of the wing, a bandage around his head being unwound by the nurse. Dan stopped halfway down the wing, a lump in his throat. Jev seemed to be ok, which was definitely what Dan wanted, but he found he couldn’t go any further now.  
The nurse looked up once she’d finished inspecting Jev’s head and spotted Dan.  
“Ah, here’s your friend,” she said, nodding over towards Dan. “Everything’s fine, you’ll be glad to hear. Although there might be some… abnormalities with personality. A side effect from the spell. If it’s anything serious, you can come and see me and we can get everything sorted.” She smiled down at Jev then stood and came over to talk to Dan quietly. “There are some memory problems too. Short term. Your friend doesn’t seem to remember the last couple of weeks. It will probably come back by itself, and I wouldn’t risk another mind spell whilst he’s still recovering from the last, so you’re going to have to look after him.”  
“Me?” Dan asked, pointing to himself as if the nurse might not understand. Well, she was talking a load of rubbish. Maybe she didn’t understand simple things.  
“Yes, you dear,” the nurse said with a smile. “I’ll leave you to take him down for breakfast.”  
The nurse patted Dan on the back, pushing him towards Jev in the process, and hurried off into her office. Jev was rubbing his head a little where the bandages had been a little tight. He looked up at Dan, who was nervously approaching him, and smiled weakly. Dan froze.  
“Jev,” he said. “But I guess you already know that. It’s me who’s pretty clueless.”  
“Clueless,” Dan said, laughing a little. This was pretty surreal, even for a muggle born who’d been pulled unceremoniously into the wizarding world less than a month ago. “Right.”  
“And you are?”  
“Dan,” Dan said, quickly. “Daniel Ricciardo.”  
“Well, nice to meet you again, Dan,” Jev said, pushing himself up off of the bed. “The nurse said something about breakfast?”  
“Yeah,” Dan said, jerking his thumb back in the direction he had come from. “We should get going.”  
Jev walked alongside Dan on their way down to the Great Hall, asking questions about what he had forgotten whilst Dan gave him as little information as possible. Jev liked him. Or he wasn’t trying to kill him anyway. And he needed to come up with a way to make sure Sebastian and Hanna didn’t change that.

The Great Hall was pretty empty when Valtteri came down for breakfast, everyone ready for the weekend after another long week. Rob wasn’t down yet. He’d had to check with his dorm mate what day it actually was because he couldn’t actually believe yesterday had really happened. He’d wanted to see Rob, to make sure he’d gotten everything right and this actually happened, but first…  
Sebastian and Hanna were sat at the almost empty Hufflepuff table. Giggling at one another. The two of them were now doing their best to come up with something more interesting to do with their time the next time they took the time turner.  
“Horner’s having me do some interesting things in these extra potions classes,” Sebastian said. “We could go down and have a look what else he has in the store cupboard. Make our own potions.”  
“That sounds stupid,” Hanna said.  
“Thanks,” Sebastian said. “Well, do you have any better ideas?”  
“Hi,” Valtteri said, sliding onto the bench beside Sebastian and making both first years jump. He laughed, and Sebastian glanced back to Hanna to see how she had reacted.  
“Hello,” he said, slowly. Valtteri couldn’t have figured out the time turner had been missing. They’d returned it as soon as they could.  
“These tutoring sessions,” Valtteri began. The sooner he got this organised, the sooner Dan would stop bugging him, he figured, and that sounded good to him.  
“Oh, yeah,” Sebastian said, relieved. “Them.”  
“Do you have your time table on you?” Valtteri asked. “I can see when we are all free and when we can do the sessions.”  
The three of them were looking over their time tables when Dan and Jev sat opposite them.  
“Are going to have to introduce me again,” Jev said quietly, taking toast from the rack.  
“Yeah,” Dan said, clearing his throat. “This is Hanna and Sebastian. And Valtteri.”  
They all looked up at the sound of their names, Hanna choking on her cereal when she saw who was smiling at her.  
“His memory has gone,” Dan said slowly, nodding at Hanna and Seb and hoping they understood what was going on. “After the fall down the stairs.”  
“His memory might have gone but he’s still a twat,” Sebastian said, taking the toast from Jev’s plate. “We are not eating together. Piss off.”  
“Sebastian,” Dan hissed. The could make this work and if Jev could see that they weren’t stupid or nasty or whatever it was he thought mudbloods were, then maybe when he went back to normal things wouldn’t go back to how they had been. He didn’t want to be stuck on a ledge again.  
“We are not eating together,” Sebastian said again. “If you want to play best friends with him, go and do it somewhere else.”  
“Seb, this is stupid,” Dan said.   
“I don’t care,” Sebastian said. “Take him away.”  
Dan rolled his eyes and stood, pulling Jev up with him.   
“I will sort it,” Dan said, quietly, taking Jev to sit at the Slytherin table.

Bruno tried to pay attention in Care For Magical Creatures. He really did, but there was no hope. Every time he tried to pay attention to whatever Lauda was saying he started thinking about what he had to ask and if Lauda decided to ask him what the proper way to greet a centaur there was no way he was going to be able to answer.  
He watched his classmates march up the hill to the castle. Felipe waited for him, frowning.  
“Are you not coming?”  
“I need to ask a questions,” Bruno said, nodding back to Lauda.  
“What’s this?” Lauda asked.  
“I will catch you up, Felipe,” Bruno said. He didn’t think Karun would appreciate Felipe knowing the truth, especially seeing as he still didn’t know they were going out.  
Felipe rolled his eyes, but spun around and followed the rest of the class up to the castle.  
“So, what is this question, Mr Senna?”  
“It’s about…” Bruno rubbed the back of his neck, trying to figure out how he was supposed to bring this subject up. “It’s about werewolves.”  
“Werewolves?” Lauda asked, trying to hide his smile. “And why is that?”  
Bruno shrugged. “Why not?”  
“Well,” Lauda said, folding his arms. “If you want to know about werewolves, you should go and ask Professor Rosberg in Defence Against the Dark Arts.”  
“Why?” Bruno asked. “I thought you would know about them. You’ve killed werewolves before, haven’t you?”  
He knew that much was true. The amount of stories he’d heard about this kind of thing growing up, he considered himself something of an expert on the history of creature hunters over the past couple of decades.  
“I killed one werewolf,” Lauda said, as if that was really any different. “It was not something I did carelessly.”  
“Yeah,” Bruno said, slowly. “But you know about them, right? I mean, you would have to. They’re creatures and I just thought…”  
“Werewolves are not creatures,” Lauda explained. “They are humans. And so if you are thinking of searching out a career in that…”  
“No,” Bruno said. “No, it’s more of a…” Bruno swallowed, trying to come up with the right word. “Personal matter.”  
“A personal matter?” Lauda said. The smile that had been trying to break onto his face was gone now. “What kind of personal matter?”  
“A personal one, sir,” Bruno said. He didn’t think there was anything more he could say without getting Karun in a tonne of trouble, so he wasn’t going to say anymore. If Lauda couldn’t help, he couldn’t help. Bruno would find someone else.  
“Well, if that is the case,” Lauda said, eventually, having wiped the surprise from his face. “I suggest you go and speak to Professor Hunt.”  
“Professor Hunt?” Bruno repeated. The Muggle Studies teacher. Pretty much the only teacher whose class Bruno wasn’t struggling in. So if this was Lauda’s way of finding out what he was up to, he needed to be careful.  
“Yes,” Lauda said. “Now, I am pretty sure you have somewhere to be going?”

“He’s changed,” Dan said, leaning over the cauldron he was sharing with Hanna in potions. “He doesn’t remember what he did and he isn’t acting the same.”  
“He is still the same person, Dan,” Hanna said, reading through the potion recipe again, just to be sure they were doing this right. Their gloopy orange mixture didn’t look anything like Sebastian’s lightening blue potion beside it. “We can’t trust him.”  
“Have you even spoken to him since his accident?” Dan asked. “His accident which you caused, by the way. You’re lucky he doesn’t remember it.”  
Hanna glanced over to Jev on the other side of the room, who was working with another Slytherin boy and seemed to be struggling to even hold the ingredients whilst his housemate did the work. It didn’t seem to be the Jev that they had locked out on the ledge the day before.   
But she still didn’t trust him.  
“We just did what he did to you,” Hanna said. “We didn’t push him down the stairs.”  
“Whatever,” Dan said, adding another couple of drops of blood to their mixture.  
“Have you been doing that all this time?” Hanna asked.  
“Yeah, it says to…” Dan said, pointing at their instructions.  
“Only whilst I was adding the crushed beetles,” Hanna said. “No wonder it looks like this.”  
She turned hopefully to Sebastian. Maybe he would be able to save it. Sebastian rolled his eyes and looked at the mixture.  
“Wait there a second,” he said, before disappearing into the classroom store cupboard.  
“Just give it a chance,” Dan said. “Maybe if he spends time with us and realises we’re not so bad, he’ll stop being so cruel?”  
Hanna sighed. She didn’t like this plan. Dan was too naïve and Jev would easily be able to convince him that he had ‘changed’. How were they to know that this personality change was even real? For all she knew, he could be faking it to come up with an even worse trick for Dan and the rest of them. And they couldn’t stand back and let him do that.  
“Fine,” she said, eventually. “We’ll give it a try. But the first sign of anything funny and he can piss off, like Sebastian said.”  
“There won’t be,” Dan assured her with an enormous grin. Things might finally settle down a little bit now, he thought to himself h


	25. Chapter 25

“Hunt?” Karun said. “I thought he was the Muggle Studies teacher.”

“He is,” Bruno said with a shrug. He’d told Karun what he’d told Lauda and, even though he’d panicked at the beginning about Lauda knowing it was him that had caused the marks in the Forbidden Forest, he seemed to have taken things pretty well, Bruno thought. Karun didn’t seem to have any idea why Lauda would suggest the Muggle Studies teacher of all people to go to, not that Bruno had any either.

“When are you going to go and see him?” Karun asked.

“Don’t know,” Bruno said. “I have class after lunch, but then I have potions after that and Professor Horner is a bit of an asshole, so I can’t be late. Maybe after lessons. Before dinner?”

“Today?” Karun asked.

“Well, yeah,” Bruno said. “I want to get it done as soon as possible, right? The sooner we know what we can do to help you, the sooner we can do it, right?”

“Do what?” Felipe asked, sitting down beside Bruno, dumping a stack of books onto the table in front of him.

“You should sit on them. You would be taller,” Bruno suggested.

“Ha ha,” Felipe said, collecting pastries onto a plate for lunch. “What are you talking about?”

“Nothing,” Karun said, at the exact same time as Bruno said “Tutoring.”

Felipe frowned at them, then decided it was better not to ask and turned to his food. Karun and Bruno exchanged worried glances.

“Karun has said he will help me with my potions,” Bruno said, slowly.

“Whatever,” Felipe said.

“I could help you too, if you wanted it,” Karun offered, much to Bruno’s annoyance.

“No, I should be fine,” Felipe said. “Think Rob will have extra time to tutor me now.”

“What about Valtteri?” Bruno asked.

Felipe shrugged. “What about him?”

Bruno decided it was probably best to leave that conversation alone before Felipe burst into a four hour monologue about Rob Smedley.

“So, will do it after lessons,” he said to Karun.

“Yeah,” Karun said, standing. “I should get to Divination.”

 

“So you thought you were a muggle?” Jev asked, chatting away to Dan as if he hadn’t been practically torturing him since they met.

Dan grinned. “Yeah. Well, I suppose I knew I was a little odd, but I thought that was it. Pretty cool when you find out you’re not that odd at all.”

Sebastian and Hanna watched from the table, Sebastian making it pretty clear that he wasn’t at all happy with their lunch arrangements but Hanna doing her best to pretend, for Dan’s sake. And to keep Jev unsuspicious.

“Your friends back home must think this is pretty cool, no?” Jev said. “Well, I guess you cannot tell people back home, can you?”

“Not really a problem, mate,” Dan said. “Need friends to tell before you can tell them anything?”

“Huh?”

“Friends,” Dan explained. “Not got many of those.”

“What about us?” Hanna asked.

“Yeah, I mean back home,” Dan said. “Not much of a popular kid.”

“Nonsense,” Jev said. “Who would not want to hang out with you?”

“You,” Sebastian muttered. He rolled his eyes when Hanna glared at him. Why she was going along with this, he didn’t know. They were supposed to be civil with him just because he’d pumped his head. How civil had he been when he’d locked Dan outside?

“People are idiots,” Dan said, ignoring Sebastian’s comment and hoping Jev would do the same. He didn’t need Sebastian making Jev hate them again. “They clearly don’t know wit when they hear it.”

“I do not believe you,” Jev said. “You must have had lots of friends, all the girls…”

“Girls aren’t my thing, mate,” Dan said.

“Really?” Jev asked, surprised.

Dan nodded, but he could feel his stomach doing summersaults. He didn’t want to be friends with someone who didn’t want to be friends with him over something like that, but he didn’t _want_ Jev to not want to be friends with him over that and he’d been hoping this new Jev wouldn’t.

“Must have been disappointing for all those girls,” Jev said, grinning.

“No, I think all the imaginary girls coped just fine,” Dan laughed.

“What have we got next, Seb?” Hanna asked, boring of the conversation pretty quickly.

“Just a second,” Sebastian dived into his bag to find his time table, squinting to read his own scrawled handwriting. “Transfiguration, I _think_.”

“Do you want to sit next to us in that?” Hanna asked. She tapped her fork on the edge of Jev’s plate, making both of them jump. “Or you could just stare lovingly into one another’s eyes for the rest of eternity.”

“I was not staring into anybody’s eyes,” Jev said, blushing.

“Whatever,” Hanna said. “Would you like to sit next to us or not?”

She smiled at Dan, trying to prove that she was making an effort. Sebastian looked at her as if she were mad. She had a plan of some kind, he knew that, but her plans had a record of making things worse.

 

“You’re spending a lot of time with the Gryffindor,” Keke Rosberg told his son, pulling Nico away from the conversation he was currently having with Pastor in the year below him.

“Which one?” Nico said, before realising that was only going to make things worse.

“You know which one,” Keke said.

“Jenson and I have been friends for years,” Nico said. It was true and he knew his father must have noticed that. If he was going to get annoyed about that now, it was a little late to change anything, Nico would argue.

“Not like this,” Keke said.

Nico’s hand clenched and unclenched in his robe pockets, waiting to see if his father had figured out what was going on. Well, that would take the pressure off of finding the right way to tell him. It would increase the pressure on finding Jenson some place to hide so Keke didn’t _kill_ him, which was probably a little more of an issue.

“Dad, we’re just friends,” he said.

“You have been spending more time with him than usual,” Keke said, unconvinced.

“I have been helping him,” Nico said, slowly.

“Nico, you are a Slytherin, and a Rosberg,” Keke said, placing a heavy hand on his son’s shoulder. “We do not _help_ people.”

“He is having problems with a girl,” Nico lied. It wasn’t likely that Keke was going to go off and interrogate Jenson about it, after all, and he’d have a chance to tell Jenson what lies he’d told before they were caught out.

“And that is of interest to you because?” Keke asked.

Good question.

“He’s a friend.”

“Not good enough, Nico,” Keke said. “Friend or not, he’s a Gryffindor.”

“And head of the quidditch team,” Nico said, quickly.

“I was aware of that,” Keke said.

“So… we get closer, and we find out how strong they are,” Nico said, slowly. He knew his father cared about Quidditch almost as much as the family image. “They’re going to be better this year than before, if the end of last year was anything to go by. We can learn all their tactics if I just keep close to Jenson.”

Keke frowned at his son a couple of moments longer, before nodding.

“You really think they could catch up with us this year?”

“Jenson has already said he has plans,” Nico said. “I just need to stay and figure out what they are.”

Keke nodded and patted his son on the back. “You find out what they are. See, thinking like a Slytherin.”


	26. Lovers' Secrets

Rob had never seen Valtteri grinning as much as he was when they made their way out of the library together after tutoring. Valtteri’s focus hadn’t fallen at all, Rob was glad to see. If he was honest, it was himself letting the team down, unable to focus on anything but how insane he was for letting this happen. He managed to help Valtteri pack away without throwing the Finn’s things all over the library floor, but when he offered to carry his bag as they made their way down to dinner, Valtteri refused.

“Do not think it is such a good things,” Valtteri said.

“What?” Rob asked.

“If people know,” Valtteri said. “Can be just between the two of us, yes? Nobody else need to know.”

“A dirty little secret?” Rob asked with a grin.

“No,” Valtteri said, blushing. “Just… do not need to draw attention to ourselves, do we?”

“Suppose not,” Rob admitted. It would stop the gossipers, anyway, he guessed. The last thing he wanted was random nosey third years coming and asking him about his love life. “Alright then.”

He let Valtteri take his bag, but walked alongside him out of the library, just as Felipe was turning the corner to head into the library. The Brazilian stopped, looking between the two of them, at the grin on Rob’s face and the colour in Valtteri’s cheeks.

“How did you get here so fast?” Felipe asked. He’d only just left the Finn on their way down from Transfiguration. There was no way he could have gotten down here before him.

“Er… short cut,” Valtteri mumbled.

“Doubt you know a short cut I don’t,” Felipe said, crossing his arms.

“What? We just…” Rob looked confused between the two fourth years, trying to figure out what was going on. “I’m just going to go…” He figured they had something to sort out and he didn’t need to be here when Felipe inevitably turned round to ask him to pick a side. He slipped past Felipe, giving Valtteri a smile over the Brazilian’s shoulder and hurried down to dinner.

“Will tell him,” Felipe threatened.

“Already knows,” Valtteri said. “Is tutoring me. I _need_ this, Felipe. Need to pass my exams and Rob can help me do that.”

“Was tutoring _me_ first,” Felipe said.

“Does not _belong_ to you,” Valtteri snapped.

“Know this,” Felipe said, a little too quickly.

Valtteri frowned, watching Felipe blush a little.

“You like Rob,” he said.

“Do not.”

“You do,” Valtteri said. “Is why you wanted me to stay away from him.”

“Wanted you to stay away from him because I am a good friend,” Felipe said. “Rob tells me himself he thinks a relationship would be stupid.”

“Are not in a relationship,” Valtteri said. “Are capable of getting on with out lives.”

“You said he knew.”

“Does know,” Valtteri said, with a shrug. “Agreed to move past it, and we will.”

He made to move past Felipe, but the Brazilian stopped him.

“Know it is not true, isn’t it,” Felipe said, carefully. “I do not like Rob.”

“Whatever,” Valtteri said. “Does not matter to me.”

“I _don’t_ ,” Felipe insisted.

“It does not matter to me,” Valtteri said again.

 

“Why do you think Lauda sent you do Professor Hunt?” Karun asked, following Bruno up the stairs to the Muggle Studies classroom, where he hoped to find the dead teacher.

Bruno shrugged. He’d been trying to figure it out all day, but it didn’t make any sense to him. As far as he was aware, Hunt had never done anything that would make him an expert on werewolf care. No more of an expert than any of the other professors, anyway.

“Dunno,” Bruno said. “Maybe he thinks I know who this werewolf is. He is trying to catch me out, maybe.”

He grinned, but it was clear Karun wasn’t in the right place to be laughing at jokes like that. Bruno came back down the couple of steps Karun had been leaving between the two of them and put his arm over his boyfriend’s shoulders.

“It will be fine,” Bruno promised. “There is nothing for him to find out from me, yes? Lauda will have to try something trickier to get anything from me.”

“What tricks is the rat trying now?”

Bruno jumped back, almost stumbling _through_ the Muggle Studies teacher. You would think, after three years at the school, he would have been used to that kind of thing, but Bruno wasn’t. Hunt winked at Karun, who was trying not to laugh, then waited with folded arms for an answer to his question.

“You were looking for me, we’re you?” he asked, when neither of the boys answered.

“Yes sir,” Bruno said. “Could we speak somewhere private?”

“There’s nobody around,” Professor Hunt pointed out.

Karun looked between Bruno and the teacher. He was liking this idea less and less the more he was stood there.

“We’ll go to my office,” Professor Hunt said when nobody spoke again. “Are you alright, Senna? You’re not usually this quiet.”

“Yeah,” Bruno said, following his teacher back up the stairs. “We just needed to talk to you about something. Well, ask you something really.”

“What’s that,” the teacher asked, before they had reached the office.

“Can we talk inside?” Bruno asked. He didn’t know why. There was nothing he was going to say to Hunt that he wasn’t going to say to anybody else, but he wanted the few more seconds it granted him to decide what he was going to say.

Hunt rolled his eyes, but silently agreed, letting Bruno push the office door open and lead the three of them inside.

“So,” he said, settling over the chair behind the desk. “What’s the problem?”

“I was speaking to Professor Lauda,” Bruno said. He might as well tell things how they were, or how his head of house knew them to be, anyway. “About a personal matter. And he said to come and speak to you.”

“Niki sent you to me on a personal matter?” Hunt asked, almost laughing. “What kind of personal matter would warrant that?”

“One involving werewolves,” Bruno said, quietly.

“Oh,” Hunt said, the laugh falling from his face.

Karun shifted uncomfortably in the seat he had taken and Bruno took hold of his hand. It was going to be ok.

“You know a werewolf?” Hunt asked.

“Yes sir,” Bruno said. “But I can’t say who.”

He wasn’t sure if the teacher had already figured it out, and there was no need to give that information away.

“Of course,” Hunt said, nodding. “And I guess… I guess you want to look after this person?”

“If possible,” Bruno said. He was pretty sure it was possible, though all he’d been able to find in the library on the subject was the most effective methods of getting away from a werewolf should you find yourself trapped in the Forbidden Forest with one.

“Right then,” Hunt said, slowly. “He sent you to the right place.”

 

“So what’s his plan?” Sebastian muttered, watching Dan and Jev. The pair were sat further along the table and hadn’t noticed Sebastian and Hanna yet. Sebastian was hoping it could stay that way for a little longer, tired of pretending everything Jev had done had never happened. “Hope Jev never gets his memory back or turns back to normal. How long do you think this is going to last?”

“I don’t know,” Hanna said, quietly, also watching the pair whilst she ate. “But we have to be around for Dan when Jev does go back to how he was.”

Sebastian just couldn’t understand how easily Dan seemed to have forgiven Jev for everything he had done. It was one thing pretending it hadn’t happened, but watching the two of them laugh together, watching the way Dan spoke with wild hand gestures which Jev imitated without offence, it was clear Dan was doing more than pretending. It was as if he had really forgotten.

“He’s an idiot,” Sebastian mumbled. “Maybe he deserves it when Jev goes back.”

“Don’t be stupid,” Hanna said. “It’s clear he likes him. He can’t help it.”

“What?”

“Dan likes Jev,” Hanna said. “Or _this_ Jev, anyway.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Sebastian said, ignoring the part of his brain that was telling him Hanna actually had a point. He looked back down the table to where Dan was laughing at something the French kid had said.

Hanna shrugged. “Looks that way to me. So when Jev breaks his heart, we’ve got to be there for him, yeah?”

“And then we get Vergne?” Sebastian asked, looking away from the pair of them.

“And then we get Vergne,” Hanna confirmed, a little concerned at her friend’s enthusiasm to take revenge. She glanced up the table again before turning quickly back to the dinner. They seemed happy enough for now.


	27. Potions and Plans

“Now, the potion won’t stop the transformation,” Professor Hunt said, watching Bruno scribble down the name of the potion. “But it will limit the effects so much. The werewolf will be in control of their own mind and their own body. Able to stop themselves from doing something they wouldn’t want to.”  
“Thank you sir,” Bruno said, quickly. This was better than any kind of help he could have expected.   
“Your friend,” Hunt said, and Bruno was sure the ghost glanced over at Karun, but it might just have been a trick of the light. “They’re following the moon cycles?”  
Bruno glanced over at Karun, not sure if he was or not. Karun’s face was blank. He hadn’t said much the entire meeting, Bruno having to guess whatever he wasn’t certain about, and it looked like he was going to have to again.  
“I’m not sure,” Bruno said, slowly.  
“Well, that might be a good place to start,” Hunt said. “The potion has to be drunk two days before the full moon, and you don’t want something like that creeping up on you.”  
“I guess not, sir,” Bruno said. That wouldn’t be too difficult, he figured. They both took astronomy, and he was pretty sure the moon did the same thing every month. Karun was bound to know more than him.  
“I would recommend keeping out of sight during your transformation, though,” Hunt said. “In control of your body or not, it’s difficult to tell someone that you’re not going to hurt them when you’re a seven foot hairy beast.”  
“Out of sight where, sir?” Bruno asked. He didn’t like the thought of Karun out in the Forbidden Forest by himself. Even if he could defend himself, there was always when he transformed back and no Bruno had never actually seen anything out in the forest, but there had to be a reason it was forbidden.  
“Afraid I can’t really help you there,” Hunt said. “Is there a teacher you might be able to confide in?”  
“Sir, every teacher in this school hates me,” Bruno pointed out. “I’m accused of making it rain toads on a regular basis. I don’t think that is going to be a likely scenario.”  
“I see your problem,” Hunt said. “Leave it with me. Though it might take a while. Where did your friend,” Again his eyes flicked over to Karun, and Bruno was sure he couldn’t have made it up twice. “Go last time?”  
“The Forbidden Forest,” Bruno said, before quickly adding: “Not that I have ever been in the forest, unsupervised, of course.”  
“Of course not,” Hunt said, with a smirk, and Bruno was glad Lauda had sent him to the Muggle Studies teacher over anybody else. “Right, until I can get anything else sorted out, tell your friend to keep doing that. It’s not the best, not by a long shot, but it’s better than somebody getting a little trigger happy and shooting you, hey?”  
“Suppose so,” Bruno said, shifting uncomfortably on the chair. He didn’t want to think about anybody being shot, if that was at all possible.  
“Right then,” Hunt said. “You leave that with me then. Would you like me to come to you when I have a solution, or a friend to go to?”  
“I will be fine,” Bruno assured him. “Thank you sir.”  
“Tell your friend that they can come and speak to me if they need to,” Hunt said as the boys stood. “What is said between these walls, stays here.”  
“Thank you,” Bruno said, even if he didn’t believe the teacher. He knew Hunt was probably the biggest gossip of them all and it was probably better to keep the information to themselves, even if he had probably figured out it was Karun.   
“I suggest you go and take that to Professor Horner after dinner,” Hunt said, following them out of the office. “The sooner he gets started on that, the better.”

“Rosberg is watching you,” Fernando muttered, ducking his head a little lower and glancing up at the head table. The Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher had looked away again now, but he was pretty sure Rosberg had been watching them. “You do not think Nico has told him, do you?”  
“He would have told me first,” Jenson muttered, not daring to look back where his friend was looking. Nico would have told him first, wouldn’t he? The German was sat over at the Slytherin table, not looking over at him, and Jenson wasn’t sure how to signal him to ask without making himself painfully obvious. No, Nico wouldn’t have said anything.  
“Not unless his father tortured it out of him,” Fernando pointed out, waving his fork around in illustration.  
“He’s the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher,” Jenson said, through gritted teeth. “Not the Dark Arts teacher.”  
Why Fernando wanted to get him worried about something there was definitely no need to worry about, he didn’t know?  
“Is still a Slytherin,” Fernando said with a shrug, popping the vegetable on the end of his fork into his mouth.  
Jenson rolled his eyes. It was that kind of Slytherin Gryffindor rivalry that was stopping Nico telling his father in the first place.  
“I’ll ask him when I get a chance,” Jenson asked. He was pretty sure it was all nothing, just Fernando trying to wind him up. And if it wasn’t, Nico would have come and told him before now. That was a definite.   
“Have you come up with a secret meeting place?” Fernando asked around his food, swallowing quickly to continue their conversation.  
“No,” Jenson said. He couldn’t say he’d been really thinking about it. Maybe it was the only idea they’d come up with that wasn’t going to get him ankle deep in shit, but it wasn’t exactly a good idea. “Have you?”  
“Was thinking the Quidditch pitch,” Fernando said. “Nico could come down to our practice and you could stay late…”  
“And what kind of explanation would we have for Nico coming to our practice?” Jenson asked.  
Fernando just shrugged. “Cannot do all the work, can I?”  
“You would make a rubbish strategist,” Jenson mumbled, stabbing the salad on his plate with his fork.

“Why don’t you go and ask a Squib?” Claire said as Valtteri took his place beside her at the Ravenclaw table. Valtteri frowned, a little confused, before he noticed the Hufflepuff on the other side of the table, looking extremely annoyed.  
“Because I don’t know a Squib,” Susie said. She wasn’t giving up this fight, no matter what Claire tried to tell her. It was wrong, and she didn’t know why Claire or anybody else wouldn’t listen to her.  
“What about Toto?” Claire said. “Why don’t you ask him what he thinks?”  
“I will,” Susie said, definitely. “I’ll go and talk to him on Wednesday?”  
“Why don’t we go tomorrow?” Claire asked.   
“Because we can only go on Fridays,” Susie said, a little confused. “Can’t we?”  
Claire shrugged. “I can go and ask Dad,” she said. “We’ll go down to Hogsmeade and ask to speak to him. Nothing wrong in going to see.”  
“Really?” Susie asked, surprised. She didn’t know why Claire was supporting her. Unless she really thought Toto would tell them she was wasting her time, but Susie didn’t think that would be the case.   
“I’ll ask Dad,” Claire said. “I’m sure he’ll say yes.”  
Susie smiled, looking very much as if she’d won the argument. Claire just rolled her eyes, returning her attention to her own food in the hope that would shut Susie up for at least a short while.  
“You look happy,” Susie said, her eyes flicking over to Valtteri, who had been hoping he could get away without an interrogation this evening. He shrugged, trying to keep the smile on his face to a minimum.  
“Guess I am happy,” he said, looking down at his still empty plate.  
Susie and Claire shared knowing looks, their differences forgotten for a moment, and Claire nudged Valtteri.   
“What’s up?”  
“Nothing,” Valtteri said, honestly. He glanced up at Claire, but his eyes wandered past Claire to where Rob was sat, further down the table. The smile only grew, and he quickly busied himself with the fish in front of him.  
Claire grinned, tongue in cheek.  
“What is it?” Susie said, a little confused but glad to see Valtteri smiling again.  
“Nothing,” Valtteri insisted. He knew Claire had figured it out, and he didn’t know how long they were going to be able to keep things between themselves if he couldn’t wipe the smile off of his face.  
“He spoke to you then?” Claire asked.  
“Who?” Susie asked, leaning across the table.  
“It is nothing,” Valtteri insisted, but the more he tried to stop himself grinning, the more he grinned.  
“Are you two?” Claire asked.  
“No,” Valtteri said, managing to wipe the smile off of his face for long enough to pretend to be serious for a moment. “We’re not. So just… just leave it, Claire.”  
“What is it?” Susie asked, growing annoyed at the lack of information.  
“It is nothing,” Valtteri insisted, having managed to regain control over his face. “Is just how I am doing in tutoring. Is going well.”  
“So you’re not…” Claire began.  
“No, we’re not,” Valtteri said, his confidence returning. “But we are not going to let that get in the way of my O.W.Ls. Anything else?”  
“I guess not,” Claire said, letting Valtteri go back to his food. She glanced up the table, a little annoyed, and just caught Rob looking away from them. She would never accuse Valtteri of lying to her, but somethings didn’t add up.


	28. Extra Potions Lessons

Sebastian caught Professor Horner’s eye across the Great Hall. He couldn’t be sure how long the potions teacher had been watching him, but it made him feel uncomfortable. He looked away, quickly, trying to catch what Hanna was saying about Dan and Jev, but he wasn’t really paying attention.

“They’re leaving,” Hanna said, clutching Sebastian’s arm. Her eyes were on the boys further down the table. They were still laughing and joking, oblivious to their friends (or _Dan’s_ friends, at least) spying on them. “Come on.”

“I… er… I can’t,” Sebastian said, not lifting out of the seat when Hanna pulled his arm. “Have those extra potions lessons.”

“Really?” Hanna said, sceptically.

“You don’t believe me?” Sebastian asked, forcing himself to laugh.

Hanna groaned and looked across the hall to the head table. Horner wasn’t paying them any attention anymore.

“He won’t mind if you’re a couple of minutes late,” she told Sebastian, pulling on his arm again. “Come on, or we’re going to lose them. Do you want Dan to get hurt?”

“No,” Sebastian said. “But I cannot be late. Sorry Hanna. Kimi will go with you though.”

Sebastian grabbed the Finn as he was passing. Kimi looked at the pair of them with a confused frown.

“Where’s the other one?” he asked. “There are usually three of you.”

“He’s with Jev,” Hanna said.

“Jev?” The confused frown didn’t leave. “I thought he was the prick who was trying to kill him.”

“He _is_ ,” Hanna said. Kimi was too slow. They were going to lose Dan and Jev and God knew what was going to happen then. “I’ll explain on the way. Enjoy your potions lesson, _Sebastian_.”

She pulled Kimi with her, out of the Great Hall, ignoring his confusion. Sebastian watched them go before turning back to the head table with a small gulp. Horner was already gone.

 _Here we go again_.

 

“Are going to need to speak to Nico,” Fernando said, unhelpfully.

“Thank you for that,” Jenson muttered, sarcastically. He had no doubt that Fernando wouldn’t actually have a plan that would give him the time to speak to Nico. “Is Professor Rosberg still watching me?”

Fernando looked back up to where the teacher were sat, not at all making it obvious.

“Nope,” he said, proudly. “Is chatting to Lauda.”

“What about?” Jenson asked.

“Well, how am I supposed to know?” Fernando asked.

“Supposed to know what?” Mark asked, sitting down beside Fernando. He place a kiss to his boyfriend’s cheek and Fernando instinctively leaned into him.

Jenson rolled his eyes.

“You two ain’t arguing about Quidditch, are you?” Mark asked. “Because if you are, I’m leaving.”

“No,” Fernando said, before Jenson could answer. “Is about Jenson’s love life.”

“Ah,” Mark said, knowingly. Apparently being in an open relationship with someone from another house gave you knowledge of everything to do with relationships, although Fernando wasn’t much help. “”What’s up?”

“Professor Rosberg’s watching me,” Jenson mumbled.

“Or he was,” Fernando added. “Is not anymore.”

“You think Nico told him about you two?” Mark asked.

Jenson rolled his eyes. If it was the first thing Mark thought of, didn’t it make it that little more likely to be true?

“No,” he said.

“He does,” Fernando told his boyfriend. “Or thinks he might have.”

“Nah, I don’t think Nico’s that stupid mate,” Mark said, snatching a bread roll from Fernando’s plate. “Have you handed in that essay that was due yesterday yet?”

“Shit, maybe that is it,” Fernando said, suddenly realising he hadn’t handed in the essay himself. “See, Jenson. I told you it was nothing to worry about.”

“You did-.” Jenson sighed and shook his head. There was no use arguing with him about this. A logical explanation had been found, and Jenson was happy believing that was true until he was given reason to believe otherwise.

 

Bruno knocked gently on Professor Horner’s office door, but there was no answer. They’d seen him leave the Great Hall as they had come in and given the potions teacher half an hour or so before coming down.

“Maybe he isn’t there,” Karun said, watching Bruno try the door and finding it locked. “We can talk to him after potions on Monday.”

“You heard what Professor Hunt said,” Bruno said. He didn’t want to leave this any later than he had to. If he could get Karun help and didn’t, and this potion wasn’t ready by the next full moon, he would never forgive himself. “He’ll be in one of the classrooms. Maybe he gives tutoring?”

“Does not seem to be the tutoring type,” Karun said.

“No, he isn’t,” Bruno said with a shrug. “But he has to be somewhere. Do you have any better ideas?”

They tried the doors along the dungeon corridor, but each one was empty until, at the far end of the corridor, in one of the smallest classrooms, Bruno found a first year stood over a cauldron, looking very focused and determined.

“Hello?” Bruno asked, making the kid jump away from his cauldron.

“What are you doing here?”

“Looking for Horner,” Bruno said, a little confused. He’d never heard about a student being left alone in a potions classroom before, especially not out of lesson time. “What are _you_ doing here?”

“Nothing,” the kid – a Slytherin, Bruno noticed, and he knew he wasn’t supposed to judge people on that _but_ – said. “Professor Horner’s not here at the moment.”

“I can see that,” Bruno said, folding his arms and leaning against the door frame. As a respectful, rule abiding older student, he felt like he shouldn’t leave the first year alone in here without a proper interrogation. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing to do with you,” the kid said, glaring at Bruno. “You’re Senna, aren’t you?”

“Yeah,” Bruno said. “Why?”

“Nothing,” the first year said, turning back to his potion. “Professor Horner isn’t here. I’ll tell him you were looking for him.”

“No,” Bruno said. “We aren’t going until we’ve seen him. Why are you here?”

“I’m working on something for Professor Horner,” the first year said.

“What, by yourself?” Bruno asked. “I do not believe you.”

“Because nobody would leave _you_ alone in a classroom?” the kid said, tutting. “Believe what you want. It’s the truth.”

“What are you making?” Bruno asked, peering into the pot. Whatever it was, it didn’t look like he was going it right. The potion was a disgusting grey green and glooped from the student’s spoon when he stirred it.

“That’s none of your concern, Senna,” came a voice from behind him, and Bruno spun around to find Professor Horner coming down the hall. “What are you doing bothering Sebastian?”

“We were looking for you,” Karun piped up. “Professor Hunt has given us this he needs making?”

Karun nudged Bruno and the Brazilian handed the potions teacher the scrap of paper. Professor Horner just rolled his eyes.

“Alright then,” he said, before reading the message and frowning. “Why does he need this?”

Bruno shrugged. “Isn’t any of our concern,” he said.

Horner huffed, annoyed. “Alright then. I’ll get this done for you. You can go now, boys, unless there’s anything else.”

“No sir,” Karun said, tugging on Bruno’s robes before he annoyed the potions teacher even more. “Let’s go.”


	29. Unresolved Arguments and Quidditch Practice

The team didn’t look too bad. Jenson and Fernando watched them flying laps of the Quidditch pitch, making sure everyone’s flying was as perfect as possible before they got onto more difficult tasks. Jenson was making notes on every point that was brought up, taking his job extremely seriously, which made Fernando laugh. But this year might be the first one in ages they were actually able to win the season and Jenson wanted to make sure that chance was as big as possible.

“Hey,” Fernando laughed, taking his eyes away from the five other students to where someone was walking across the pitch to him. “Looks like you have a visitor.”

Jenson gave Fernando a confused look, until he saw who the Spaniard was smiling about. Nico was making his way towards them, a sheepish smile on his face. Jenson bit his lip. He hadn’t had a chance to speak to the German the night before, and hadn’t even seen him at breakfast.

“Watch them lot,” he muttered, handing Fernando the little note book before jogging over to see what Nico was doing. His breakfast was sloshing about in his stomach as he did so, trying to figure out what the Slytherin was doing here. Maybe his assumption at dinner the night before had been right and the world was crashing around his ears as he watched the team fly in circles.

“Hey,” he said, trying to smile and ignore the sick making it’s way up his throat. “What’s up?”

“I’ve had to tell Dad something,” Nico said, quietly.

“Tell him what?” Jenson said. He’d been right. They’d been found out.

“I told him you were having problems with a girl,” Nico said. “And I was helping. Trying to get close to you so I could find out about the Quidditch team. I’m sorry, Jenson. I didn’t know what else to say.”

Jenson breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn’t going to have to drop out of school. He wasn’t going to have to leave the country and hide in a cave. He laughed a little. Of course he wasn’t going to. Nico wouldn’t do anything to hurt him, not without talking to him about it first.

“I’m sorry,” Nico said again.

“No,” Jenson said, smiling. “No, you don’t have to be sorry. It’s alright.”

He couldn’t believe how relieved he really was. They had a reason to be speaking now. Everything was, for the moment, sorted out.

“I just didn’t know what else to say,” Nico said again.

“You said the right thing,” Jenson said. “He believed you?”

“I think so,” Nico said.

“Good,” Jenson said. “Why didn’t we think of that sooner, hey?”

“You really are ok?” Nico asked, uncertainly. He hadn’t expected Jenson to be so alright with it all. If there was anything Nico thought would ever challenge him for Jenson’s attention, it would be Quidditch.

“Sure,” Jenson said, tempted to pull him into a hug, but knowing his fellow team mates would be watching from above. “We’ll just have to think up some more lies to tell your father about the team, hey?”

 

“I don’t get how you did it?” Valtteri said, letting Claire pull him along with her and Susie as they made their way to the carriage that was waiting to take them to Hogsmeade. “Rules are there for a reason, you know. Cannot just break them.”

That and he was going to miss out on hours of studying. He’d already begun using the time turner more than he wanted to so that he could spend some time with Rob outside of tutoring. He didn’t like it. There had to be a limit to the amount of extra time he had before he died of exhaustion or something.

“It’s fine,” Claire said, letting Susie get into the carriage before climbing in after her. “Have spoken to dad about it. He said it’s fine.”

Valtteri didn’t understand why Claire was so obsessed with proving Susie wrong. The pair of them were far too caught up in all this than was sensible, and he was hoping Toto would tell them the same so they both dropped the subject. Though it _had_ stopped Claire asking him about Rob again, and he was glad for that, at least.

“But we are just going straight to see Toto and then back to Hogwarts,” Claire warned. “No wondering about for hours or Dad’ll get pissed off.”

“I can’t imagine your Dad pissed off,” Susie said, thoughtfully, a grin on her face.

Valtteri could. He imagined Professor Williams would be pretty annoyed if he ever found out what he’d been using the time turner for.

Susie was convinced she was finally going to prove to Claire she was right. After only half a week back at school, she’d decided what she wanted to do with her life: make sure Squibs were treated properly. She’d yet to speak to her head of house about her career choice, but proving to Claire it was a worthy cause seemed more important at the moment.

“Have you even told Toto we are coming?” Valtteri asked. “Might be busy.”

“It’ll be fine,” Claire insisted, even though Valtteri knew the Austrian a little better than Claire did. “Don’t worry about it.”

Valtteri rolled his eyes, disappointed in himself that he hadn’t found a way out of this.

The journey to Hogsmeade was pleasantly short and quiet, and Valtteri managed to zone out of the conversation Claire and Susie were having about herbology and letting his mind wonder.

Hogsmeade was deserted, the residents enjoying a lazy Saturday morning. Without the students from Hogwarts wondering around the streets, the village looked a lot larger than usually, and Susie found the emptiness a little chilling, even if it was still a warm, September morning.

“Come on,” Valtteri said, marching off in the direction of Honeydukes. The sooner they got this over with, the sooner he could go back to work. Susie turned to Claire, a little confused. Valtteri had been acting strangely since they got back to school after the summer break, and Claire seemed to know why. But the Ravenclaw just shrugged back and followed Valtteri to the sweet shop, Susie following behind her.

Toto looked up at the sound of the bell above the door ringing. The shop was usually dead at any time other than the Wednesday Hogwarts migration, as his parents called it, and he’d been flicking through a book whilst he minded the shop.

“Valtteri?”

Valtteri waved a hand in Toto’s direction, turning to Claire and Susie. Claire snorted back laughter, realising how annoyed Valtteri was. She wasn’t the only one who thought this would be a waste of time then.

“Don’t worry,” she said, watching Susie go to the counter. “This won’t take long.”

“You came back sooner than expected,” Toto said, smiling at Susie. “Did not think it was possible to sneak out of the school.”

“Claire’s dad got us out,” Susie said, grinning back.

“Hmmm,” Toto said, looking past Susie to Claire. “Seems you have friends in all the right places.”

“Maybe,” Susie said. “I’ve been talking to Claire-.”

 _“At_ Claire,” Claire corrected her, joining Susie at the counter.

“About Squibs,” Susie said.

“Ah,” Toto said. He sighed and bit his lip. “So what is? What do you want to know? Is not that fascinating, you know.”

“I know,” Susie said, quickly, worried she might have offended him. “I was just saying, I don’t think it’s very fair that you can’t go to Hogwarts.”

“I can’t do magic,” Toto said. “It is just how it is.”

“Yeah, but you could do other stuff,” Susie said. “Like Herbology and Astrology and things. Couldn’t you?”

“I guess,” Toto said.

“The only lessons you wouldn’t be able to do would be the ones with wands,” Susie said. She had her entire argument practiced and rehearsed.

“Which are the most _important_ ones,” Claire jumped in. “What are you going to do without Defence Against the Dark Arts of Transfiguration?”

“Quite a lot, actually,” Toto said. “You would be surprised.”

“See,” Susie said, as if this was some kind of triumph. “So if you could come to Hogwarts, would you want to?”

“Sure,” Toto said. “But you are able to get on perfectly well without Hogwarts. Isn’t that right, Valtteri?”

He looked past the two girls to where Valtteri was waiting impatiently by the door. Susie and Claire exchanged confused looks before turning to their friend. Valtteri shrugged.

“Toto is coping without Hogwarts,” he said.

“Yeah, but,” Susie said, ignoring her confusion for the time being. “You’d want to come, wouldn’t you? That’s what you said.”

“Yeah,” Toto admitted. “But it is not all doom and gloom because I cannot go. I’m fine.”

“See?” Claire said.

“Why is this important, anyway?” Toto asked, and Valtteri rolled his eyes from behind the two girls because he was only encouraging them.

“I want to change things,” Susie said. “I want to convince them to let Squibs into Hogwarts.”

The look on Toto’s face said he wasn’t expecting that answer. He looked over to Valtteri as if to ask him if Susie was mad, and Valtteri just nodded.

“Well,” Toto said. “That… that is a big task. I do not see it happening any time soon.”

“Why not?” Susie asked. “Things only change if you make them. Do you want to help?”

“Susie,” Claire said, suddenly realising how out of control the third year really was. She’d just wanted Toto to give her a reason to stop arguing about this, but it looked like he’d only managed to make her even more determined to cause chaos.

“No,” Susie said, not letting Claire pull her away. “Do you want to help?”

“I guess…” Toto said, not really sure what he was getting himself into.

“See?” Susie asked, mimicking Claire.

“We should get going,” Claire said through gritted teeth, trying to pull Susie out of the shop. “ _Thanks_ Toto.”

“I’ll speak to you on Wednesday,” Susie promised, pulling away from Claire so she could leave of her own accord. “Thank you.”

 

“Well, it’s not bad,” Jenson said as the team touched back down in front of him. “Katherine and Sam, you both need to work on turning. You’re going to need to be short and sharp if you’re a chaser or a keeper and I’m not seeing that at the moment. Fernando will help you out with that.”

The keeper and third chaser went off with Fernando, leaving Jenson with his favourite trio. He sighed, looking between Lewis, Bruno, and Felipe. They hadn’t started an argument yet, which Jenson supposed was a good thing. He and Fernando hadn’t been too sure if he wanted all three of them on the team together, but when they worked, they worked well, and the team really needed to be as strong as they could be if they were going to win the cup this year.

“Ok, guys,” he said, leaning against his broom. “I just want to have a chat with you.”

“Have not done anything,” Felipe said, a little too quickly for Jenson’s liking.

“Well, not today,” Jenson said. “But what happened during try-outs was dangerous and it can’t happen again.”

“Yeah, I agree,” Lewis said.

Jenson rolled his eyes and rubbed at his forehead with his free had, preying neither of the Brazilians had a sarcastic answer to go along with that. Surprisingly, they both stayed quiet and Jenson continued with his lecture.

“Look, you’re all good players,” he said. “And I am going to be really pissed off if I have to kick any of you of the team. But if something like that happens again, you’re all out.”

“What?”

The chorus of surprise almost made Jenson laugh. The three of them looked up at him as if he’d just asked them to chop off their right arm.

“I mean it,” Jenson said. “No doing anything and blaming someone else. Nothing dangerous. And that’s what _I_ deem dangerous, Felipe and Bruno, not what you do. Any of that, and all three of you are out. I don’t care what Lauda says. I’m not having it on my team. Alright?”

“Alright,” Felipe said, unimpressed, whilst the others mumble in agreement. It’s looking like this year is going to be the most boring year they’ve ever had at Hogwarts.

 

“Hi.”

The frown on Valtteri’s face changed instantly. He’d disappeared to the library, hoping to be able to get some work done and get away from Susie and Claire’s argument – which had only managed to explode in size thanks to Toto – and, normally, he wouldn’t want the company. But when the company was that who had found him…

“How did the trip go?” Rob asked.

“Disaster,” Valtteri said. “Do not know why I expected anything else.”

Rob grinned. “Women, hey? What can you do with them?”

“Susie is going to try to get them to let Squibs at Hogwarts,” Valtteri told him. He didn’t think it was much of a secret, though he had a feeling Claire wouldn’t thank him for it if Rob turned out to be on Susie’s side. “Does not think it’s fair. Claire just says that’s the way things are. Toto Wolff only made it worse.”

“Ah, I’m sure Susie’ll get over it,” Rob said, even though he didn’t know the Hufflepuff that well at all. He took hold of Valtteri’s hand over the desk, smiling when Valtteri looked up at him from over his books.

“You’re distracting me,” Valtteri said, returning the smile.

“Do you want me to stop?” Rob asked.

“No, you can stay,” Valtteri said.

“What are you doing anyway?” Rob peered over to see what the fourth year was reading, frowning at the page. “That’s a bit above your level, isn’t it?” Rob didn’t even think he had started this kind of thing yet. “You don’t need to study this, do you?”

Valtteri shrugged. “Might be important.”

“It won’t be,” Rob assured him with a grin. “Come on, Val. You need to focus on what you’re going to be assessed on.”

“Are not tutoring me now, Rob,” Valtteri said. “Can do what I want.”

“I know,” Rob said, a little confused. “But you don’t want to be stressing over things you don’t need to, do you? Don’t put so much pressure on yourself.”

“Am not,” Valtteri said, trying not to snap. “Rob, am fine. Do not worry about me.”

“Alright then,” Rob said, slowly. He made a mental note to speak to Professor Williams about this. If Valtteri wasn’t going to admit to him he was too stressed, maybe he would the teacher.

“Are tutoring today?” Valtteri asked, trying to change the conversation.

“This afternoon,” Rob said. He didn’t like tutoring Felipe after he’d been to Quidditch practice. He found the Brazilian was never able to focus properly and, whilst he never listened at the best of times, he turned practically deaf after practice, in a little world of his own.

“Should maybe be preparing for that?” Valtteri suggested.

“I’ll go if you want me to, Val,” Rob said.

“No,” Valtteri said. “Did not mean it like that.”

He sighed, a little annoyed at himself. He wasn’t supposed to be getting stressed or angry at Rob, but he didn’t need to be told that he was doing too much work or that he couldn’t handle things when he _could_. He knew he could.

“I’ll go,” Rob said, standing. He shook his head when Valtteri tried to protest. “You’re working, and I should get some work done too. I’ll see you later, alright?”

Valtteri smiled as he watched him go, biting his lip as soon as Rob had disappeared behind a book shelf. He needed to make things work between him and Rob but, right now, there were more important things to focus on.

 

“Anything interesting actually happen last night,” Sebastian asked. He was down for lunch, having completely skipped breakfast, and the look on Hanna’s face suggested that wasn’t really a good idea. Dan and Jev were nowhere to be seen, and Sebastian was pretty sure that was his fault, but he wasn’t in the mood to care right now. He had bigger problems.

“No,” Hanna said. “No thanks to you. Kimi says it’s a waste of time.”

“It probably is,” Sebastian said. “Even if Jev is planning on doing anything, there is nothing we can do about it, is there?”

“We can stop him hurting Dan,” Hanna said.

“Do not think Dan would listen to us,” Sebastian said. He gazed around the half empty hall, looking for the potions teacher he hadn’t seen since the night before, but Professor Horner wasn’t there. Sebastian didn’t think he’d ever seen the teacher be somewhere he didn’t need to be.

“We can still try,” Hanna said.

“If you want to try, Hanna, then try,” Sebastian snapped. “But I have more important things to do than clean up after Daniel’s mistakes.”

“Seb?”

Sebastian sighed and stood up to leave, suddenly not hungry, but Hanna pulled him back down into onto the bench.

“Seb, what’s wrong?”

“Does not matter,” Sebastian muttered, pulling himself away from Hanna.

Maybe he was just making a bigger deal out of this than he should have been, but he wasn’t sure. He didn’t know who to talk to about it either. Kimi would only make fun of him for being a teacher’s pet already, he was sure, and all his other friends would have no idea what Hogwarts was like.

“Sebastian,” Hanna called after him as he marched out of the Great Hall, but Sebastian didn’t turn back.

 

“It will probably get cold soon,” Jev said.

They were lying by the lake, just above where the grass became more mud than plant, looking up at the still clear blue sky.

“Hmmm,” Dan said. “Not really looking forward to that.”

“It is hot where you are from?” Jev asked.

“All the time mate,” Dan said. “I mean, it’s a bit cooler there now, but still warmer than the summers are here. It’s gonna snow in the winter, isn’t it. Not really looking forward to that.”

“It must be nice,” Jev said, rolling onto his side to watch Dan.

“Uh huh,” Dan said, grinning up at the sky. “Better to be here at Hogwarts than back home, though.”

“You think?” Jev asked.

“Of course,” Dan said, turning his head to look at his new friend. “I got friends here, haven’t I?”

“Yeah,” Jev said, smiling. “Yeah, I guess so.”

Dan sighed, looking back up at the sky. They had a tonne of work to do, but both of them had decided it would be better to spend the day relaxing. Sunday’s were made for homework anyway.

“Your friends,” Jev said, slowly. “They do not like me, do they?”

“Sure they do,” Dan said.

Jev rolled his eyes, pushing himself up onto his elbow to look down at him. “Why don’t they like me?”

“They like you, Jev, don’t worry about it,” Dan said.

Jev just raised an eyebrow at the Australian, waiting for the real answer. Dan sighed and sat up.

“You weren’t exactly the nicest person in the world before, mate,” he admitted. “Like, really not nice. To me. And to Seb because he was trying to defend me. But it’s alright now, because you’ve changed now and you’re nice and everything. They’re just being idiots about it.”

“What do you mean?” Jev asked, flinching away when Dan tried to put and arm over his shoulder. “What did I do?”

“Nothing _that_ bad,” Dan said.

“Have already said I was really not nice,” Jev said, backing away again. “What did I do?”

“Well, er… mate…” Dan bit the edge of his lip. Jev was happy, he was happy. How had Sebastian and Hanna managed to ruin that? “You kind of locked me outside the Divination tower.”

“We do not even take Divination. Why did you need to go up there?”

“No, on the _outside_ ,” Dan said. He looked back up at the castle, pretty sure he was able to see the window he had been stood outside of from where they were lying. “There,” he said, pointing.

“What?” Jev asked. “Why did I do that?”

Dan shrugged. “I don’t know. You never said. You didn’t like me.”

“That is stupid,” Jev said. “Well, I am glad I hit my head then.”

“Yeah,” Dan said. “I’m kind of glad you did to.”


	30. The Appearance of the Little Green Monster

“Ugh,” Bruno groaned, dumping his quidditch thing at the end of his bed before collapsing onto it. “Need to practice more in the summer.”

“Am always telling you this,” Felipe said, sorting through the pile of books at the side of his bed and trying to find the ones he would actually need. “But are too busy ‘relaxing’ to come and practice.”

Bruno frowned at him. The image in front of him was never going to look right to him.

“Are you going to the library again?” Bruno asked.

“Rob is tutoring me,” Felipe said with a grin, pulling his bag onto his shoulder.

“Again?” Bruno asked.

“Have to pass this exam,” Felipe said.

“Why don’t you let me test you?”

“No, it is fine,” Felipe insisted.

“You know, you cannot study all the time,” Bruno said. “You have to take some time off sometimes.”

“Know this,” Felipe said. “Will relax tonight. Do not worry about me.”

Bruno smiled, rolling onto his side to watch him go before sitting up himself. He shouldn’t be worrying about Felipe. He had enough to worry about with Karun. Maybe he should go and check to see if Professor Horner had gotten anywhere with the potion. That would probably annoy the potions teacher and make him take even longer than usual. On second thought, that probably wasn’t a good idea.

He _would_ go and find the Slytherin but Karun had said he was studying, and Bruno didn’t want any part in that. God Saturdays were boring when both his friends were being nerds.

 

“But what happens when I change back to how I was?” Jev asked.

They were walking now, wandering around the boundaries of the Hogwarts grounds. There was nobody else about, which Jev appreciated. He wasn’t entirely sure why but he preferred it when it was just the two of them. At least Dan didn’t treat him like some freak, although he suddenly felt like he didn’t deserve that.

Dan shrugged. “I don’t think you’re just going to snap back, you know?” Or that was he was hoping, anyway. “You’ll remember all this.”

“But I am only this way because I am ill,” Jev said. That was how he understood it. He’d hit his head, and it had made him a ‘good’ person. When he went back to what he was, he would just say he was ill.

“You’re not ill,” Dan said.

Jev raised an eyebrow, waiting for an explanation as to what, exactly, he was. Dan sighed and shoved his hands into his pockets. He wasn’t entirely sure what to say, but he didn’t want Jev to feel bad about what he’d done. It wasn’t _his_ fault.

Well, it was… but…

Dan didn’t understand it.

“Maybe Sebastian and Hanna are right to be funny with me,” Jev said.

“No,” Dan said, quickly. “No, they’re just being stupid.”

Jev shook his head. “You should not be around me. What if I go back to how I was?”

“I don’t think it’s like flipping a switch, mate,” Dan said, forcing a laugh.

“You are not a brain doctor, Dan,” Jev said. “You cannot know what will happen. What if I go back to what I was like and hurt you?”

“You wouldn’t do that,” Dan said. He tried to put an arm over his friend’s shoulder but Jev shrugged him away. “Jev. Do you really think you would do that?”

“Locked you outside a fucking tower, Daniel,” Jev said. “Am pretty sure I am capable of turning on you again.”

“Well I don’t.”

“Just leave me, Daniel,” Jev said, bouncing away from Dan again when he came closer. “No, go back to Sebastian and Hanna.”

“Why should I?” Dan asked, confused. “I told the nurse I would look after you.”

“I do not need looking after,” Jev snapped. Why wouldn’t Dan listen to him? He was trying to do the right thing for him, but Dan didn’t seem to even want that. “Dan, leave me alone.”

“Jev?”

“Leave. Me. Alone.”

 

Valtteri was _not_ watching Rob and Felipe. _He_ couldn’t help it if they were working at the next desk along and yes, he did have to crane his neck a little to see around the bookshelf, but he wasn’t _watching_ them.

“Have been practicing,” Felipe boasted, proudly, dumping his bag onto the desk with a thud. “The mood lifting spell. Have gotten better.”

“Really?” Rob said, impressed. He didn’t think he’d ever heard Felipe say he’d been practicing before. “Let’s see it then.”

Felipe grinned, raising his wand. Rob did his best to not cringe in anticipation this time but, before Felipe uttered a word, he felt something brush up the inside of his leg. Rob froze, his throat suddenly getting very tight, and stared at Felipe. Felipe just smirked back.

“Felipe?”

“Hmmm?”

“The spell,” Rob managed to say. Maybe if he just ignored that, they could both pretend it hadn’t happened.

“Oh, yeah,” Felipe said, quickly. He raised his wand again, reciting the spell almost perfectly. Rob grinned, and he wasn’t sure if it was down to the spell or pride.

“Right,” he said, hoping the incident had been a mistake. “Shall we get onto Transfiguration?”

Valtteri was _not_ watching. He just happened to see Felipe not so subtly flirting with Rob. He looked quickly away, turning to his own text book. He needed to focus on this or else he was going to fall even further behind his own revision schedule.

He couldn’t help but look up when he heard Rob laughing though. He couldn’t do this. He’d go back to the Ravenclaw common room. Study there. Anywhere had to be better than this.

“You really think I will be able to pass?” Felipe asked.

“If you keep working at it,” Rob said grinning. Rob was a little shocked at how well he was doing. It was still nowhere near where he needed to be of course, but it was better than Rob expected after only a few weeks.

Felipe didn’t seem so enthusiastic. “Is still so much to do,” he said, quietly.

“Yeah,” Rob said. “But we’ve still got plenty of time, haven’t we? Don’t worry about it, sunshine. We’ll get there.”

“Should maybe have more sessions,” Felipe suggested. “Do not think am going to be good enough before Christmas.”

“Of course you will.”

“Do not _know_ that,” Felipe complained. “Please, Rob.”

“Felipe, I am with you every spare moment I get,” Rob said, laughing. “I don’t have the time for anymore.”

“Would find time for Valtteri,” Felipe muttered, bitterly.

“Yes but Valtteri’s my-.” Rob caught himself before he could finish.

“See?” Felipe cried. “Knew you liked Valtteri more than me. Would rather tutor him than me. Would rather spend time with him than me.”

“Felipe, I didn’t mean it like that,” Rob said. What on earth did Felipe have against Valtteri all of a sudden?

Rob sighed and shook his head, opening another textbook to find the other thing he had wanted to cover today when Felipe slumped against the desk, hiding his head with his hands. Rob jumped, stared at him for a couple of moments before looking around to see if anybody else had noticed. Felipe’s shoulders were shaking, muffled sobs coming from the younger boy.

“Felipe?” Rob said, quietly.

Felipe didn’t answer, still shaking. A little nervous, Rob climbed out of his seat, crouching down beside Felipe with his hand on the Gryffindor’s back.

“Felipe.”

“Just go,” Felipe snapped, his words muffled by his arms.

“Felipe, don’t be stupid,” Rob sighed, rubbing Felipe’s back in the hope that it might make him calm down.

“Stupid,” Felipe spat. “Is what I am, isn’t it? You cannot change this. You do not even _want_ to change this. So just go. Leave me alone.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Rob said. “What’s the matter? Is it the exam? Because I know it’s going to be tough, but we’ll get through it together, won’t we? Is it… is it Valtteri?”

“Is _you_ Rob,” Felipe snapped, sitting up. He covered his face with his hands, not letting Rob see.

“Me?” Rob asked, even more confused than before.

“You,” Felipe said again. “Thought you were the one person I could trust, you know? Thought you would always support me but you do not even care. Did not want to tutor me. Wanted to push me onto Claire. _Still_ do not want to tutor me. Hate me.”

“Felipe, I don’t hate you,” Rob said, gently. “Look at me, mate. Come on. I don’t hate you, Felipe. I think you’re amazing. And your attitude to work since you came back to school has been super impressive. It’s a shame Lauda didn’t bring in this rule before. You’d be the top of the year by now.”

Felipe peeked at him from over the top of his hands, not really wanting to move them away just yet. Rob grinned up at him, still rubbing Felipe’s back.

“You wish I was Valtteri, don’t you?” Felipe said, quietly.

“No,” Robs aid. “I’m glad you’re you. I like Valtteri. But I like you too, ok? And if you weren’t you, I wouldn’t even be tutoring, would I? And… if you weren’t you, I would be stuck with a bunch of boring people like me who don’t know how to have fun.”

Felipe smiled weakly, bringing his hands away from his face a little further. “Do not think you are boring,” he said, quietly.

“Well, that makes one of us,” Rob said, brightly. “What’s brought this on, all of a sudden? Is it because of Valtteri? You know, I only ever bring him up to try and encourage you. You’re just as clever as him. You just… need to _focus_ those brain cells, yeah?”

Felipe nodded again, the smile growing a little. Rob’s grin widened and he stood, patting Felipe on the back before returning to his seat across the table.

“Are you ok to carry on?” Rob asked. He had a lot more he wanted to go through today but if Felipe wasn’t in the right state of mind then it was just going to be a waste of time anyway.

Felipe nodded, wiping his eyes quickly.

“Right then,” Rob said, turning to the book again. “Transfiguration…”


	31. Research and Suspicion

One of the good things about being expected to follow the family tradition and become a hunter of some kind was that Bruno had books. A lot of books. Rare books he probably wouldn’t be allowed to take out of the library, but his mother had insisted on getting him. Books he hoped would help him and not just tell him how he could kill his boyfriend.

Boyfriend, Bruno thought happily when he was on his hands and knees, trying to find the books he was looking for under his bed. He smiled at the thought. It hadn’t really sunk in yet. He had a boyfriend. He sat back in the empty dormitory for a moment. Who would have thought he would be the first one in the dorm to get a boyfriend? Not that he wanted anybody else to know about it. 

He couldn’t quite figure out why he didn’t want anybody else to know about Karun and himself. He was sure somebody would figure it out eventually but, for now, he preferred to keep it to the two of them. Why did anybody else need to know?

Still smiling, Bruno pulled the box of books out from under his bed, sorting through the books on various creatures that supposedly caused harm to ordinary humans. There had to be something in here, though he didn’t really fancy going through every one of the thick, leather bound books. He wasn’t a reader.

He flicked through the first book he picked up, looking through the first handful of pages. The words were old and faded, notes Bruno couldn’t really read scrawled in the margins, but the fourth year flicked through the pictures on vampires and vampire-like creatures. He frowned, looking at the scrawled hand writing in the margin and trying to decipher what it said. It was irrelevant to his research, he was pretty sure, but the diagrams looked interesting and he was curious as to what the note taker had to say on it. 

 

“It is too quiet,” Fernando said whilst they were hiding from Mark in the Gryffindor common room, playing exploding snap.

Jenson paused, about to place a card down, and looked around to see what Fernando was referring to. The common room was always pretty empty on a Saturday afternoon, whilst students found more interesting things to waste their time with. 

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“Is too quiet,” Fernando said, also looking around the room suspiciously. 

“Fernando?”

“Where are they?” Fernando asked. “Should be causing trouble by now and they are not.”

Jenson smirked, figuring out what Fernando was talking about. 

“Bruno and Felipe?” he asked. 

“They should be doing something,” Fernando said, nodding. He put his cards around and looked suspiciously around the common room again, as if trying to spot something off, but there was nothing. Or nothing Jenson could see, at least.

“Felipe will be studying,” Jenson said. “And Bruno… They work as a pair. There won’t be anything until after Christmas at least. Are you playing or not? Come on. I’m on a winning streak.”

Fernando stood, ignoring his friend. He didn’t like this. He had a bad feeling about it all and he wasn’t going to wait until it started raining toads again to find out what was happening.

Jenson rolled his eyes as he watched Fernando head out of the common room. He knew he should probably go with him – Fernando would only do something stupid if he didn’t. But as he got up to leave, Kevin, a second year Gryffindor wandered into the common room. Jenson grinned and settled back down. Another game of exploding snap it was.

 

“Professor Horner wants you, Seb,” Nico told him, finding Sebastian in the corner of the common room, keeping out of everybody’s way.

Sebastian looked up, sighing a little. He’d hoped he wouldn’t be found here but apparently there was no hiding from the potions master. Nico helped him up from his spot on the floor.

“He didn’t seem angry, if that helps,” Nico said, smiling.

“Yeah,” Sebastian said, brushing himself down. “I know what it’s about.”

“Alright then,” Nico said. “Best get off before he does get angry, though.”

“Yeah,” Sebastian said, weakly. He looked a lot too worried for someone who wasn’t in trouble to Nico, but the fifth year just shook his head, watching Sebastian leave the common room.

Horner was waiting outside, his arms folded. He raised an eyebrow when he spotted Sebastian and Sebastian held his hands out, not sure what he was supposed to say in answer. Horner just shook his head, not saying a word before turning around and leading Sebastian down to the potions classrooms.

“What… the thing that Senna sent in,” Sebastian asked, slowly. He’d been looking for the name of the potion in the text books Professor Horner had given him, but he couldn’t find it at all. 

“Yes?” Horner didn’t turn around, taking out the keys from inside his robes. 

“What does it do?” Sebastian asked. There were thousands of potions in those books, the uses ranging from cleaning up spots to something like resurrection. So, if it wasn’t in there, Sebastian figured it was either fairly new or very unethical. 

Horner frowned, turning back to Sebastian before unlocking the door. “You don’t know.”

“No sir,” he said. “It wasn’t in any of the books.”

“No,” Horner said. “It wouldn’t be. Too experimental for when those were written.”

“Right,” Sebastian said, following Horner into the small potions classroom. The cauldron that was permanently bubbling in the corner was still bubbling and Sebastian looked over it before taking a seat. “So, what does it do?”

“That is none of your concern, Mr Vettel,” Professor Horner said. “And I do not think Professor Hunt would be happy with you knowing either.”

“Am I… am I making it?” Sebastian asked. 

“I already have it started, Seb, don’t worry,” Professor Horner said. “You can look over it once a week to make sure it looks how it’s supposed to look, but other than that, you don’t need to worry about it. That on the other hand.”

The potions master nodded to the cauldron simmering at the back of the classroom. Sebastian turned to it, trying to figure out what he had done wrong. He was pretty sure he’d just followed as his teacher had told him to do but he also knew it wasn’t supposed to look like that.

“Seb, these potions are for sale,” Horner said, flicking his wand at the cauldron so the whole set up floated onto the bench in front of Sebastian. “And they cannot go wrong. Even the slight variation this one will eventually show will bring down the price and I cannot afford to let that happen. Do you understand?”

“Yes sir. Sorry sir,” Sebastian mumbled, looking into the cauldron. The potion would still do what Professor Horner wanted it to do. It could still be sold. He hoped. 

“Right,” Horner said. “Well, let’s just make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

 

“How was practice?” Karun asked, sitting beside Bruno at the Gryffindor table for dinner.

Bruno just tapped his nose and grinned. “Top secret.”

It felt good to get back on a broom. He knew he should have done more practice during the summer, he thought the same thing every year, but now he was back into practice it should be hard for him to get back into a routine, he thought. 

“This year, we will win,” Bruno promised.

“You don’t usually win?” Karun asked.

“Ah, that is not our fault,” Bruno said. “The team has had problems before. We don’t like to think about them.”

“Alright then,” Karun said. He started to pile his plate with food. He stopped when he saw one of the prefects further down the table watching them, removing his hand from the tray of meats. “I think that boy over there is watching us.”

“Fernando?” Bruno asked, not even bothering to look round. “Yeah, he thinks I am up to something.”

“Why?” 

“Because I usually am up to something,” Bruno said, laughing. “And he doesn’t really know what to do when I’m not up to something. It’s fine. Nothing for you to worry about.”

“Are you sure?” Karun asked. Nobody else could find out about what he was. He shouldn’t really have let Bruno find out what he was, but he wasn’t going to dwell on that. “You’re sure he doesn’t suspect anything.”

“Sure he suspects something,” Bruno said. “He suspects that I’ve somehow found a way to turn Felipe invisible and he’s currently terrorising some second year’s somewhere. Or he suspects that we’re about to turn whatever he has in his hands into spiders. Or that we’ve placed half a dozen toads in his bed. But nothing he suspects has anything to do with you. Besides, perhaps, getting you involved in the toad planting process.” 

Bruno grinned, and his smile settled his boyfriend for a couple of moments. He gave Karun a pat on the back before turning his eyes to the table, trying to decide what to eat. Karun did the same, trying to ignore Fernando’s eyes on them. Bruno was right. There was no way the Spaniard could have found out. 

“I was doing research,” Bruno said.

“Really?” Karun asked. Bruno didn’t come across as the researching type.

“Yeah,” Bruno said. “I now know how to kill you, which is nice. No, the books were not really very useful. I did not expect them to be that much. But I found out some cool things about vampires.”

“I’m glad it wasn’t a complete waste of time then,” Karun said, sarcastically.

“Sorry,” Bruno said, quickly. He was still trying to work out what was and wasn’t acceptable around Karun. What he was sensitive about and what he wasn’t. Really, it shouldn’t have taken a genius to work out that “I know how to kill you” wasn’t going to be on the comfortable list. “I’ll shut up now.”

There was an uncomfortable silence in which Bruno tried hard to focus on his food. I now know how to kill you. Like being around him wasn’t awkward enough without saying things like that. Bruno was looking into his goblet, wondering if he could drown himself without disturbing Karun, when the Slytherin spoke.

“Where is Felipe?”

Bruno nodded over to the Ravenclaw table. “Trying to chat up Rob Smedley still.”

“Ah,” Karun said. “And if he is successful, we can tell him about us?”

“Yeah, but he won’t be,” Bruno said. “Trust me. He has been trying to do this for years now.”

 

Felipe was fully aware of the fact that he was sitting a little too close to Rob for either of them to be comfortable with, but neither of them had moved yet, so Rob was either unaware of this or he didn’t mind. Felipe was also aware of the fact that Valtteri was watching them both from further down the table, which only made every brush of hands and every laugh he got from Rob even more satisfying. Not that he was doing this to get at Valtteri. No, he had more important plans that that. 

“Have something to show you,” Felipe said, quietly. He could barely hear himself over the sound of his heart thudding in his chest. It was now or never, he figured.

“What?” Rob said. “It better not be a prank, Felipe.”

“No, no prank,” Felipe said, taking hold of Rob’s hand and standing. 

“What is it?” Rob asked, a little confused. “I’m eating.”

“Are finished.”

“How do you know?” Rob asked, letting himself be dragged out of the Great Hall by Felipe.

“Know this,” Felipe said. “Know you. Come on. Is important.”

“Alright, alright,” Rob laughed, stumbling a little as Felipe quickened his pace.

There were passageways in Hogwarts Felipe was sure only he knew about. There were some he hadn’t even shown Bruno, preferring to keep them to himself in case he ever felt the need to disappear for a short while. Now seemed like the best time to use one.

He dragged Rob around the corner and slipped between two of the suits of armour that guarded the secret passageway.

“Felipe?” Rob said, uncertainly, following the fourth year blindly.

“Is ok,” Felipe insisted, his voice a lot quieter now. He stopped, Rob almost walking into him. “Close your eyes, yes?”

“Felipe?” Rob said, the nervousness growing in his voice.

“Is ok,” Felipe insisted with a laugh, standing up on his toes and leaning against Rob. “Close your eyes.”

“Fine,” Rob said, letting his eyes slide shut. This was some stupid prank, he knew, but it would probably be better to get it over with. He wasn’t going to get away without suffering whatever Felipe had in mind so-

Rob jumped away as soon as he felt Felipe’s lips against his own, his eyes shooting open. Felipe stumbled back, his eyes just as wide. 

“Felipe?”

“Sorry,” Felipe mumbled. 

“Shit. Why did you do that?”

“I just… just thought… you were saying… and I thought…”

“Fucking hell.”

“Do not need to sound so disgusted,” Felipe snapped, embarrassment disappearing as he went into defence. “You said you would maybe be ok with being in a relationship. Tell me this.”

“Yes but not with you,” Rob said, before realising how bad that sounded. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like a bad thing.”

“How could that not be a bad thing?” Felipe cried. He wasn’t sure who he was more angry at, himself or Rob. He’d waited years for the right moment and Rob had gone and ruined it.

“Felipe, I didn’t…” Rob huffed, running his hand through his hair and staring at the little Brazilian. What on earth had he said to make Felipe think this was a good idea? “I’m sorry. I can’t.”

“Love you Rob,” Felipe said quietly.

“No you don’t,” Rob said.

“Really are an idiot, Rob,” Felipe snapped, angry tears beginning to blur his eyes. “Cannot even see it.”

Felipe hurried off down the passageway, determined to not let Rob see his tears.

“Hold on,” Rob called after him. “You can’t just leave me here. I don’t know where I’m going.”

“Fuck off, Rob,” Felipe snapped.

Rob stared after him, not really sure what he could say to make the situation any better, until Felipe had disappeared around the corner and left him to navigate his way out of the passageway himself.


	32. Broken Friendships

Hanna greeted Sebastian at breakfast with a slap around the head, making the German glare at her.

“What was that for?” he cried.

“What have you said to Dan?” Hanna hissed, raising her hand to slab Sebastian again.

“What?” Sebastian jumped away from her, confused. “I haven’t said anything to him. What is wrong?”

“Dan was really funny with me last night,” Hanna said. She’d been sure Sebastian must have said something to him about Jev, but the Australian refused to speak to her, so there was no way of knowing.

“Funny how?” Sebastian asked, slowly.

“He just wouldn’t talk to me,” Hanna said. “He wouldn’t even look at me. He just kept giving me this dirty look and- here he comes.”

Sebastian looked up to find Dan making his way to the Hufflepuff table, alone. The Australian glanced over in their direction and Sebastian was sure he saw his friend turn purposefully away from them. Sebastian turned, puzzled, to Hanna, but she just shrugged.

“Jev must have said something,” Sebastian said.

“Like what?” Hanna asked. “And if it’s Jev, why isn’t he sat with him?”

She pointed down the table they were sat at to where the French boy was sat, also alone, staring unhappily into his bowl of cereal. Sebastian looked between Jev and Dan.

“Maybe they had a falling out,” Sebastian suggested.

“It is clear why you are not a Ravenclaw,” Hanna muttered.

“If you want a better answer, why don’t you ask them?” Sebastian shot back, taking another slice of toast. Why this was _his_ problem, he didn’t know? Jev and Dan weren’t talking anymore. It seemed like a problem solved to him.

“I tried asking Dan yesterday,” Hanna said. “He wouldn’t answer.”

“Maybe Jev is back to his old self,” Sebastian suggested. “And Dan just does not want to speak to us because he is ashamed that he believed him.”

“You think?

“I think the problem is solved,” Sebastian said. “And I have better things to do right now.”

 

“I’m sorry.”

Karun looked up to find Bruno stood opposite him, an apologetic smile on his face and a peace offering of a plate of croissants in his hands. Karun frowned, putting down his spoon and taking the plate from his boyfriend, letting Bruno sit down opposite.

“What for?” Karun asked, trying to find a space for the croissants on the already over crowded table.

“For what I said yesterday,” Bruno said. “I mean, I didn’t mean it to sound as bad as it did. I don’t know what I expected. I wasn’t thinking. I’m an idiot and I’m sorry.”

“You’re not an idiot,” Karun said, and Bruno was relieved to see he was smiling. “You just don’t think.”

“Here,” Bruno said, shifting some of the other plates about so there was room to put the croissants down. “I didn’t go through all the books, you know?” he said, watching Karun take one of the pastries. “Maybe I could bring them to the library and we can go through them together.”

“Do you think it might be useful?” Karun asked.

“I think it can’t do any harm,” Bruno said. “If you don’t want to, though, I understand. I’m not sure if I would want to if I were you.”

“No,” Karun said. “I think it sounds like a good idea.”

Bruno beamed, glad he had sorted out that mess. He’d already made a mental note to never say anything so stupid ever again, but now he was underlining it so he never forgot how important the note was.

“I’ll bring them down after this,” Bruno said. “Well, maybe you can help me bring them down. They are kind of heavy.”

Karun grinned and was about to make a comment about Bruno’s strength when the most sour looking person the Indian had ever seen sat himself down on the bench beside Bruno.

“Hey,” Karun called, happily, but Bruno shook his head. He wasn’t entirely sure what had happened the night before but he knew better than to try and bring it up when Felipe had that kind of look on his face.

Karun bit his lip but nodding, keeping silent and continuing to tear the croissant Bruno had brought apart. Felipe stared miserably at an empty plate, but he could see out of the corner of his eye Bruno and Karun silently talking, trying to figure out what was going on. There was a lot of small hand waving from Karun, Bruno shaking his head lots. Felipe couldn’t figure out if they knew he could see what they were doing or not. Maybe they were trying to get him to speak without having to directly ask, but he wasn’t going to.

“Felipe?”

Felipe almost looked up at the sound of his name, but he stopped himself before he could. He wasn’t going to give Rob the satisfaction of running off. He was sat with _his_ friends and Rob had no business coming and sitting over here. If anybody was going to leave because they felt awkward, it was going to be him.

“Felipe?” Rob said again, sitting between Felipe and Bruno. Felipe just turned away from him, as if he was looking down the table for something to put on his empty breakfast plate.

Bruno and Karun silently exchanged surprised looks but turned back to their own food when Rob shot them a look.

“Felipe please, just talk to me,” Rob said. “You can’t just do something like that and leave me on my own. That’s not fair.”

“Like what?” Karun mouthed to Bruno, but Bruno just shrugged. Felipe hadn’t spoken about it the night before, and he had been too busy to even notice.

“Felipe can you just _look_ at me,” Rob tried, grabbing hold of Felipe’s hand. The Brazilian froze for a moment before pulling it away and moving up the table a little to reach for the cereal.

“What happened?” Karun mouthed again, but Bruno had no idea, and was watching Felipe as closely as Rob was to see what his best friend was thinking.

“Fine,” Rob snapped after a couple more minutes silent. “Then just listen. I’m ok talking about this here even if you’re not. I just thought you might want to do this in private, rather than around all your friends. But if that’s not right… I guess I don’t really know you as well as I thought I did anyway, do I?”

Still, Felipe gave him no reply, taking a bowl and pouring out cereal into it.

“Felipe, I didn’t mean to hurt you yesterday,” Rob said, the volume of his voice dropping a little. He wasn’t _really_ comfortable discussing this as publically as they were, especially not when Bruno and Karun were staring at him, but it needed to be done. “I didn’t… I was just shocked. It wasn’t as if you gave me any warning, was it? And it’s not that I don’t love you. I _do_. I really do. Just… just not like that. You’re like my little brother.”

“Shit,” Karun whispered.

Rob glared at him.

“Don’t you want to do this somewhere else?” he asked Felipe, quietly.

“Am having breakfast, Rob,” Felipe said, still not looking at the Ravenclaw.

Rob smiled. Felipe had acknowledged his existence. That had to be a good thing, he thought. It wouldn’t take that much longer to get more from him.

“I mean it, you know,” Rob said. “I care about you. I care about you more than any kid in this school. You’re like family to me. But… I’m sorry you got the wrong end of the stick.”

“Wrong end of the stick,” Felipe snapped. “ _Wrong end of the stick._ I am in love with you. Or _was_ in love with you. Do not treat me like an idiot. Do not treat me like a baby. You tell me you were thinking about a relationship.”

“Yes, but not with you, Felipe,” Rob hissed, trying to keep the conversation quiet. They were already attracting looks from other people on the table, and Bruno and Karun seemed very keen in their conversation too.

“Not with me,” Felipe repeated, not bothering to keep his voice down at all. “With Valtteri?”

“No, Felipe,” Rob said, quietly, dropping his eyes to the plate in front of him. “Felipe, I thought I wanted a relationship, but I don’t. I can’t deal with that right now. I’ve got to focus on my studies, haven’t I? It is nothing about _you_.”

“Do not want to hear it, Rob,” Felipe said, standing.

“Felipe, wait.”

“Do not want to hear it,” he said again, not looking back as he marched out of the Great Hall, leaving his breakfast behind.

Rob groaned, holding his head in his hands and squeezing his eyes shut. He had handled that brilliantly.

“Well,” Karun said.

Rob looked up, finding both Bruno and Karun staring at him. He shook his head and stood.

“Wait,” Bruno said. “What happened?”

“Piss off,” Rob muttered, going to sit at his own house table.

 

Hanna wasn’t going to leave him be. Sebastian knew that. He was trying to get Kimi to teach him how to play chess properly (he was quite good at playing checkers, but he just didn’t understand the rules to chess), with Hanna sitting next to him, sighing a lot and making passive aggressive comments Sebastian was finding difficult to ignore. Kimi kept looking at her, a little confused and hoping he wasn’t going to get roped into another one of the first year’s plans, but Hanna didn’t stop.

“Hanna, will you just stop,” Sebastian snapped, annoyed at her and the fact he had no idea what he was supposed to be doing with these stupid chess pieces.

“Stop what?” Hanna asked, innocently.

Sebastian glared at her. “Stop that.”

“Stop what?” Hanna asked again, the innocence falling away a little.

“If you’re so worried about Dan, why don’t you go and pester him instead of me?” he snapped.

“Why are you worried about Dan now?” Kimi asked.

“Hanna thinks Dan and Jev have had a falling out,” Sebastian explained.

“They _have_ had a falling out,” Hanna said. She was sure of that now, after watching Dan all morning. She still hadn’t managed to speak to him, or not without him completely ignoring her and wandering off to do something else. There was no way the two of them could still be friends. Dan had been practically glued to Jev’s hip, and now they weren’t even looking at her.

“So?” Kimi asked. “I thought you did not like this Jev. Why are you so bothered they have had a falling out? Isn’t this a good thing?”

“It would be,” Hanna said, pushing the chess board out of the way so the boys would focus on what she was saying. “But now Dan won’t talk to _us_ either, and if Dan and Jev aren’t friends any more, then Jev can start bullying Dan again.”

_And I thought I would have a natter right now, Lemony Snicket style, because who the fuck is even reading this anyway. Nobody. Or that’s what it seems like to me. If you are reading this, just skip over this bit. I think it’s all going to be in italics anyway. Writing this is like talking to a brick wall. To be fair, writing anything is like talking to a brick wall. Is it selfish to want comments and stuff. Yes, very. And half of me only wants comments and stuff to fill my ego because guess what? Comments make writers feel good. Kudos make writers feel good, but comments make writers feel really good. Yay. But part of me wants comments because I have absolutely no idea why anybody is even reading this. Like, I’m always saying my work is shit, but it’s not even as if this one has a good story line (it does, but I haven’t really gotten onto it yet). I’ve no idea what anybody thinks about this. At all. All I have is hits and, lets be honest, you could just click on it and click back off it and that would boost the hits. So tell me why you’re reading this. Tell me what you think of different parts of it. If you like it, if you don’t like it (especially if you don’t like it, yeah, my feelings will be hurt but it’s way more important I hear about critic than for me to sit here with my fingers in my ears pretending I’m a good writer). And this goes for all writers you read, yeah? I do my best to comment on work (I don’t read as much as I should, I know). But is honestly not so hard to give a tad bit of critic or support. Anyway, sorry about this. I’m just feeling really shit about this fic at the moment, and if nobody else is even interested in it, I might pull the plug._

“I am sure Dan is able to tell you if he is being bullied,” Kimi said, collecting the chess board from where Hanna had knocked it with his wand.

“Really?” Hanna said, turning to Sebastian. “What do you think?”

“I think it is nothing to do with us,” Sebastian said quietly. He had enough to worry about and all he wanted was to spend Sunday morning playing a stupid board game with his friend. Why did Hanna have to ruin that?

“Sure it does,” Hanna said, shaking Sebastian’s arm, only for the Slytherin to shrug her away. “He is out friend, Seb.”

Sebastian just rolled his eyes and continued helping Kimi put the chess pieces back on the board.

Hanna glared at him and stood, marching out of the hall. If Sebastian wasn’t going to help her, and Dan wasn’t even going to talk to her, she was going to have to sort things out herself.

 

“I’m starting a campaign,” Susie declared, dumping a pile of books on the table

Claire was sat at. Claire looked up at her, apologised to the student she was tutoring, then took Susie by the arm around and out of ear shot of the student.

“Susie, get over it,” she hissed.

“No,” Susie snapped, pulling her hand out of Claire’s grip. “You heard what Toto said. There is absolutely no reason Squibs can’t come to Hogwarts and you know it. I don’t get why you’re so against the idea.”

“It’s not that I’m against the idea,” Claire said. She fell into one of the empty seats, trying to figure out a way to convince Susie to let this go that wouldn’t make the third year even more enthusiastic. “I just think it’s a waste of time.”

“Why?”

“Because nobody is going to go along with this,” Claire said. “Susie, Hogwarts has been around for centuries, and nothing has ever changed. The rules were made then and they haven’t been changed since because they are _good_ rules.”

“They haven’t been changed since because nobody’s tried to change them,” Susie said. “Claire, if we actually stand up and speak to people, we could make a difference in this school. In this world.”

Claire just shook her head. Sometimes you could tell Susie was a muggle born, so full of ideas about how the world could work and how she could change things.

“It isn’t going to work,” Claire said. “Susie, you have exams to focus on and new subject to study.”

“Trying isn’t going to hurt,” Susie said. “So what if it doesn’t work? What harm is it going to do?”

There wasn’t going to be any convincing her. Claire could see that. And it wasn’t exactly a _bad_ idea, but she knew that was no use. Things like this didn’t change.

“Fine,” Claire said. “Do what you want.”

“Will you help?” Susie asked.

“What?”

“Will you help me?” Susie asked again. “You think it’s a good idea, don’t you?”

“Susie, I have things to do,” Claire said. “You know how busy I am, with tutoring and everything.”

“Of course,” Susie said, clearly disappointed. “Maybe Valtteri will help me. Maybe Valtteri will want to make a difference.”

“You’re trying to guilt me into this, but it isn’t working,” Claire said, standing and returning to the table where she had left her bewildered student. “And what are these books about anyway?”

“Nothing,” Susie said, passing the table. “I just wanted to get your attention.”

Claire rolled her eyes, shifting them onto the next desk as Susie marched out of the library.

“Right,” the Ravenclaw said with a sigh. “Charms.”


	33. Apologies and Mistakes

Jev was sat down by the Great Lake again. It was early, and the sun was yet to warm up the grounds, and he was freezing, but he didn’t care. He’d been trying to remember what he’d done. Trying to remember why Sebastian and Hanna hated him and why Dan should have hated him too, but everything was blank. It was no use.

He pulled his knees up to his chest, turning the stone in his hand over and over. He’s meant to be off on another walk, thinking maybe something would have sparked a memory, but he’d stopped here, and he couldn’t remember why.

He was still sat there, with the stone in his hand, when Hanna found him. She stopped a little further up the slop, trying to make sure it actually was Jev. She’d been looking for him for hours, hanging out outside the Slytherin common room to ask if he was in there and wandering round the castle in the hope she would find him. A couple of Ravenclaws in their year had pointed her in this direction, but she had to say she was a little surprised to find him here. And, now she’d found him, she didn’t know what to say.

“Jev?” she asked, quietly.

Jev jumped, dropping the stone and standing up.

“What are you doing here?”

“Looking for you,” Hanna said, coming down to meet Jev at the lake edge. “What are _you_ doing here?”

“Keeping out of the way,” Jev muttered. “Go away.”

“Out of the way?” Hanna asked. “From who?”

“Who do you think?” Jev spat.

“Dan?” Hanna asked. This wasn’t really how she had expected the Slytherin to be. “Have you and Dan had a falling out.”

“I do not know, you tell me,” Jev said, turning back to the lake. Why was it so hard, with all these grounds worth of space, to find somewhere where people would leave him alone? “Seem to know me better than I do?”

“You’re still going with this memory loss thing then?” Hanna said. She wasn’t really sure she believed he’d lost his memory. Or, that his memory was still gone. The school nurse would know, but Hanna wasn’t entirely sure where the hospital wing was so she hadn’t gone to ask.

Jev rolled his eyes. She didn’t believe him. But, then, he understood why. If what Dan had said was true, Hanna and Sebastian had every reason to not believe him.

“What have you done to Dan?” Hanna asked when Jev didn’t reply.

“Nothing,” Jev said. “Well, nothing that I can remember.”

He hated himself. He’d hurt Dan and he couldn’t even remember doing it. He couldn’t even remember _why_ he’d done it.

“What… what do you mean?” Hanna asked.

“Dan told me what I did,” Jev said. “I do not think it is safe for him to be around me. That is _all_ I have done. So you can be happy now. You can tell Sebastian you and him got what you wanted. You got Dan away from me. Congratulations. Now leave me alone.”

Jev turned away from Hanna again when she came a little closer, wiping his eyes on the back of his hand and taking a deep breath in the hope that he might be able to stop anymore tears from falling. He was _not_ going to cry over Dan, or over what Hanna and Sebastian had done. He must have been fine without Dan as a friend before he had hit his head. He would be fine now.

“Jev?” Hanna said, quietly. “Jev, are you crying?”

“Piss off,” Jev said, screwing his eyes shut now. Maybe she wanted to see him cry. Maybe then she would go away.

“You don’t… you don’t actually like Dan though,” Hanna said. “Or you didn’t. And when you go back to normal, you won’t want to be friends with him. So it’s for the best.”

“Why do you think I sent him away?” Jev snapped. “I do not _want_ to hurt him. I do not _want_ to go back to normal. I like Dan. He is a cool guy and I liked being friends with him. But if I am going to hurt him I cannot be friends with him. And now he hates me and I do not blame him.”

He shook his head. Hanna wouldn’t understand, but maybe she would leave him alone now. She was right. When he went back to normal, he would be happy again, but if he was making Dan unhappy… he didn’t want that to happen either.

“Dan thinks you will remember how you’re like now,” Hanna said. “That’s why he wanted to be friends with you so bad. He wanted you to know what he was like and then, when you go back, you might not want to hurt him so much anymore.”

“He was my friend just so I would not hurt him?” Jev asked. Still, he knows he can’t blame Dan. He’d nearly _killed_ him. How could he blame Dan for doing something that might stop that happening?

“Well, not _just_ because of that,” Hanna said. “I mean, I think he likes _this_ you. And he thinks maybe you’ll stay this way even when you change back. _I_ don’t think that, but Dan was hoping for it.”

Hanna wasn’t even sure why she was still stood there, but she knew she didn’t like the way Jev looked. He wasn’t supposed to look this… unhappy. And _she_ wasn’t supposed to feel this sorry for him.

“I’ll speak to Dan, if you want,” she said.

“I don’t want him anywhere near me,” Jev said. “Not if I’m going to hurt him.”

“I don’t think you will,” Hanna said. “You don’t want to now, so maybe that means you won’t want to when you change back. And, even if you do, Sebastian and I will be there to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

“You want to… _help_ me?” Jev asked.

“Dan isn’t happy,” Hanna said. “And I’m an idiot and I care about him. And if you make him happy then I will help you.”

 

“What’s wrong?”

Valtteri knew what was wrong. He’d seen Felipe and Rob at breakfast. They’d fallen out. He hadn’t quite heard what they had fallen out over, but he wasn’t stupid. It wasn’t that difficult to guess.

He’d found Rob in the Ravenclaw common room, which wasn’t that common itself. The Brit never studied in here, preferring the quiet of the library where the more adventurous Ravenclaws couldn’t be found pushing their magical ability to the limit. Being in the common room meant Rob was hiding, and Valtteri wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.

Rob looked up as Valtteri came over and smiled, but it didn’t convince Valtteri. He sat opposite Rob on the little rickety table the sixth year had set himself up at, waiting for a reply.

“What is wrong?” Valtteri asked again when Rob didn’t reply.

“Nothing’s wrong,” Rob lied. “Just History of Magic stuff. I think they’re going to set a welcome back test soon and I want to be ready for it.”

“Saw what happened at breakfast,” Valtteri said quietly, reaching across the table to hold Rob’s hand. Rob pulled away before Valtteri could touch him, turning over the page in his text book.

“That was nothing,” he lied again, the fake smile gone from his face.

“Do not believe you,” Valtteri said. “What has Felipe done?”

“He hasn’t done anything, Val,” Rob said. “You don’t need to worry about him. He’s just stressed about this exam.”

“And this makes him march off?” Valtteri asked. “Have seen him. Is as if he cannot stand to not be touching you most of the time and then he just walks out? Is not stress.”

Rob looked up at Valtteri. Was he really that _blind_? Valtteri seemed to have picked up on all these little hints Felipe must have been trying to give him. Valtteri had seen it all, so why hadn’t he?

“It’s just stress,” Rob said again. He didn’t know why he was keeping this from Valtteri. Bruno and half a dozen of the rest of the students at the table had heard the conversation. It would be all around the school by dinner. But maybe he would have been able to speak to Felipe by then. Get him to talk back. There was still a lot they needed to discuss, starting with whether Felipe would still want tutoring sessions or not.

“So, if I ask him, he will tell me the same thing?” Valtteri asked.

“Yes,” Rob said. The Gryffindor probably wouldn’t say anything at all. There wasn’t any risk there.

“Don’t lie to me Rob,” Valtteri said. “Have been going out less than a week and you are already lying to me. What is wrong?”

“He kissed me,” Rob snapped, getting a couple of sniggers from some of the other students in the common room. Rob rolled his eyes, turning back to his revision. “He kissed me last night. I didn’t kiss him back. I didn’t get a chance to do anything. I just pushed him away, told him I didn’t like him like that, and he stormed off. It was nothing.”

“He kissed you?” Valtteri said, quietly.

“It was nothing Valtteri,” Rob said again. “He’s just… I don’t know. He’s just upset and angry and what am I supposed to do? I can’t just go out with him to make him happy, can I?”

Valtteri shook his head. This wasn’t fair. Rob was _his_ boyfriend and yes, they were keeping it quiet at the moment, because it was their relationship and nobody else’s, but it still made him a little angry. Felipe couldn’t just go and kiss him. Felipe thought Rob had rejected Valtteri and the first thing he thought to do was kiss him.

“I need to speak to him, Val,” Rob said. “Try to make him understand. He wasn’t listening to me at breakfast.”

Valtteri nodded again. Of course he wouldn’t listen to him.

“Just wish you could have told me,” he said, quietly.

“I just didn’t want to worry you over nothing,” Rob said. “Felipe will understand eventually and you already have enough to worry about. I didn’t want to give you anything else.”

 

“They’re very…”

Karun wasn’t really sure what the right word was. They were going through the books Bruno had brought down from the Gryffindor common room but, so far, there hadn’t really been anything that would be much use. These were for people who wanted to be able to control magical creatures, not look after somebody with his kind of illness.

Bruno looked up from the book, nodding. He knew what Karun meant.

“Gruesome,” Karun finished, deciding that was probably the closest thing to the right word he could come up with.

“We can stop if you want,” Bruno offered. He understood why Karun wouldn’t really be comfortable reading about this kind of thing.

“No, it’s good,” Karun said. “Interesting. Just… gruesome.”

He couldn’t believe some of the methods for capture were really considered humane. Who decided that this kind of thing would be ok? It sounded more like torture to him than anything else. He’d always known the things people would do to him if they ever found out weren’t really going to be very nice, but this… this was supposed to be the people looking after him, wasn’t it?

“Sorry,” Bruno said, a little embarrassed. “They are old books. I am sure they do not still do this kind of thing.”

Alright, he wasn’t exactly sure. He didn’t know what the correct procedures were anymore, having decided already that this was definitely not something he wanted to make a career out of, but he wouldn’t be surprised if they were just as bad. People liked to care about magical creatures, but when they were tearing up a village or something.

“What are we even looking for, Bruno?” Karun asked after a little while, closing the book he had been looking through. It was no good. There was no cure and they already had the best they could do brewing in the potions classroom.

Bruno sighed and closed his own book. He didn’t really know. He just wanted to help and sitting here waiting for the potion to be ready didn’t feel like helping.

“It will be alright,” Karun said. “I’ve been living with this for months. Nobody would have even found out about me last week if it weren’t for us going into the forest and you being a nosey idiot.”

Bruno looked up to apologise but found his friend smiling and just grinned back.

“I prefer curious idiot, you know,” Bruno said. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?” Karun asked.

“Getting you caught,” Bruno said. “Lauda will have figured it out. And Hunt. They won’t have told anybody, I don’t think anyway. But they know.”

“It’s fine,” Karun insisted. “If you had never found out, I wouldn’t have this potion now, would I? Come on. Let’s take these back up to your dorm and go and do something more interesting.”


	34. Apologise and other lies

“Dan?”

Of course, Dan just ignored her, again. If it weren’t Hanna’s fault Dan was in such a foul mood, she would have just left him to it. She was sure she could find something more interesting to do than deal with him. But it _was_ her fault. She knew that now.

“I’m sorry,” she said, quietly, sitting next to Dan and hoping he was listening. Dan didn’t show any reaction though. He was curled up on one of the sofas in the Hufflepuff common room with a thick book on his lap. His eyes were glazed over though, he wasn’t reading.

“I mean it, you know,” Hanna continued, hoping some of this was going in. “I really am sorry.”

“Well, it’s too late for that,” Dan said, bitterly. He didn’t look up from his book and bit his lip to stop himself from saying anything else. He was supposed to be ignoring her, giving him the silent treatment like Jev was giving him now. It served her right. She wouldn’t care that Jev was hurting, but maybe she would care a little more about him. He wasn’t sure though…

“I know,” Hanna said. “But I’m trying to make it better. I… I spoke to Jev.”

Dan rolled his eyes and turned the page in his book. Great. She’d probably made Jev feel even more bad about what he had done. Maybe she’d filled him in on all the bullying so the French boy could hate himself even more.

“He’s trying to protect you, Dan,” Hanna said, gently.

“And you think he’s doing the right thing, don’t you?” Dan said. “I don’t _need_ protecting, Hanna. I needed protecting when I was getting my head kicked in every day by senior school kids. I needed protecting when the boys in my class laughed at me and stole the chocolate from my lunch box. I needed protecting when I was locked in the games cupboard at play time because nobody knew I was in there. You don’t understand, Hanna. I can look after myself. And I don’t know why _you_ think I don’t.”

She didn’t even know him. Dan wondered if it was too late to make some better friends. He could probably find some other friendship group to stick himself in if he worked fast.

“I think I was wrong,” Hanna said, quietly. She glanced up at Dan but couldn’t even tell if he was listening to her. “He made you happy and I ruined that. And Seb and I ruined that and I’m sorry.”

There was still nothing from Daniel, who was currently trying to remember the faces of his year mates, struggling to work out who would potentially let him be friends with them.

“He still wants to talk to you, you know,” Hanna said. “He misses you.”

“But now he’s scared he’s going to push me out of a window,” Dan said. “So well done Hanna. I’ve known you, what? Two weeks, and you’ve already gone and ruined my friendship. Thanks for that.”

Hanna groaned and threw herself back on the sofa. Why did he have to be so over dramatic?

“I haven’t ruined your friendship, Daniel,” she said. “You and Jev are going to be fine. I’ve spoken to him and yeah, he’s scared. But he wants to be your friend again. I told him I’d be there if he did do anything but I don’t think he is. He wants to talk to you again, Dan.”

“Really?” Dan asked, looking over the edge of his book at Hanna. He didn’t believe her. What could she have said to make Jev change his mind? _Why_ had she said anything to make him change his mind? She should be enjoying this.

Hanna nodded, smiling.

“You’re going to help us?” Dan said, uncertainly. This definitely didn’t sound like Hanna.

Hanna nodded again. “I want you to be happy Dan. And, if this is going to make you happy, this is going to make you happy. It _is_ going to make you happy, isn’t it?”

“Of course,” Dan said, jumping across the sofa to hug Hanna.

 

“Could show you the secret passage ways,” Bruno offered, as he and Karun wandered aimlessly around the castle, looking for something more interesting to do.

“Secret passage ways?” Karun asked.

Bruno nodded. “Lots. Felipe and I have been discovering them for years.”

“And you didn’t tell me about these?” Karun cried, grinning.

“You want to check some out?” Bruno asked.

“Of course,” Karun said, surprised this hadn’t already been a suggestion. “How secret are these secret passage ways?”

Bruno shrugged. “Well, I have never told anybody about them,” he said. That didn’t necessarily mean that nobody else knew about them, but he had never seen anybody else using any. There was the fact Bottas seemed able to get from one place to another in an insanely short amount of time, but Bruno was pretty sure that was just Felipe’s imagination trying to convince him the Finn was evil.

“Think they are pretty secret,” he said.

“Do you think…” Karun said, slowly. “Do you think they would be somewhere I would be able to go.”

“Of course you can go there,” Bruno said. “I wouldn’t be showing you if I did not think- oh. Like _that_ you mean.”

Karun nodded.

Bruno ran through all the secret passage ways he knew of. He had a rough idea of how big a werewolf _could_ be, having gone through all the books, but no idea if Karun would be this big. If he was, then there was no chance any of the passage ways would be a good enough hiding place.

Bruno shook his head. “I do not think it would be a good idea,” he said. No better an idea than the Forbidden Forest, anyway, and there was always a chance another student could stumble across him.

“Ok,” Karun said, a little disappointed.

“Do you still want to go and see them?” Bruno asked, hoping he hadn’t just ruined this as well.

“Sure,” Karun said, his grin returning and making Bruno smile too. “We have nothing else to do.”

They were somewhere in the chaos that was the second floor and, even in his fourth year at the school, Bruno wasn’t entirely sure how to find his way around floors like the second, which he was sure rearranged itself whenever it felt like it, but he led Karun through the corridors in the direction he _thought_ was one of the passage ways that would lead them back around to the charms classrooms.

“Are you sure you know the way?” Karun asked with a smirk when Bruno stopped, sure he had seen this stretch of wall before that day.

“Of course I know the way,” Bruno said. No, he did not know the way. It was definitely around this way _somewhere…_

“Yep, I can definitely see that,” Karun said, smirking as he watched Bruno spin around on the spot.

Bruno just ignored him, leading Karun off in a different direction this time. He wondered if any of the teachers really knew the entire castle by heart, or if there was some special spell only the teachers knew that would stop them getting lost.

“Here we are,” Bruno said when he finally found what he was looking for, the statue of the Hunchbacked Hag.

Karun looked between Bruno and the statue, waiting for his boyfriend to do something. Bruno just grinned at him, trying to make Karun figure it out himself. Well, he had had to look like an idiot in first year, trying to get statues to move and doors to appear out of nowhere.

“Alright,” Karun said, slowly, approaching the statue. It had to be something to do with the statue.

“Did they have lots of secret passage ways at your old school?” Bruno asked.

“No,” Karun said. “It wasn’t like this, my old school.” He wandered around the statue, trying to look for a switch or something, but nothing jumped out at him. He guessed that was probably why they were still secret passages. “It was pretty new, and they did not like to make the students get lost all the time.”

“Hogwarts students never get lost,” Bruno said with a grin, watching Karun circle the statue again.

“What does that make you then?” Karun asked, stopping at the bottom of the statue and getting onto his hands and knees to see if he could find anything at the base, but the stone seemed to be welded to the floor or something.

“You do not think I knew my way?” Bruno said, in mock horror. “Such a horrible boyfriend I have.”

“Yeah,” Karun said. “Could be worse though. You could have my boyfriend.”

“Oh really,” Bruno said, stepping forward when Karun stood and twisting the hag’s nose. The statue slipped to the slide revealing the steps below. “And what is your boyfriend like?”

Karun gapped at the hole in the stone, not able to understand how the statue could move when it had definitely been stuck into the stone floor. Yes, _magic_ , but that didn’t explain it completely to him. He looked up at Bruno, who was grinning at him.

“A bit of a show off,” Karun answered, letting Bruno take his hand and lead him down into the passage. The statue slid back over the hole in the floor and both boys had to light there wand tips to be able to see.

Karun looked around at the space he now found himself in as he followed Bruno down the steps. The passage way wasn’t exactly narrow – he and Bruno would have been able to walk side by side once they got down the steps – but it wasn’t wide either, or tall, and Karun knew it wasn’t going to be a big enough space for the full moon.

“You know, nobody has ever called me that before,” Bruno said as they came to the bottom of the steps.

“What? A show off?” Karun asked, grinning. “Do they even know you?”

“What have I done that is showing off, hmmm?” Bruno asked. “I think I do a good job at doing the exact opposite of showing off.”

Karun grabbed hold of Bruno’s hand, pulling him to a stop. Bruno turned to him, a little confused. Karun’s version of an explanation was to press his lips against Bruno’s. The Brazilian stumbled back, a little surprised and the lit wands hit the floor with a clatter, plunging them both into darkness.

“What was that?” Bruno asked, pulling away from Karun a little and squinting to try and see him in the darkness.

“Sorry,” Karun mumbled.

“No, I never said I didn’t like it,” Bruno said, pulling Karun back towards him and kissing the Indian on the nose before dropping down to the floor.

“Er… Bruno?”

The passage way lit up again as Bruno stood with the fallen wands in his hand. He handed Karun’s back, laughing at the relieved smile on his face.

“Want to be able to see you,” Bruno said. “My aim is not so good off of the Quidditch pitch.”

Karun laughed, nervously. All his confidence from a moment ago had disappeared when the light returned. Bruno leaned closer again, brushing their noses together and Karun was sure he must have been able to feel just how hot his cheeks were burning.

“I think I love you,” Bruno murmured, his eyes closed.

“Well that’s… what was that?” Karun pushed Bruno away quickly, turning to the noise he had heard. There were footsteps in the distance, coming from the other end of the passage way.

“Don’t worry,” Bruno said, stepping in front of Karun and raising his wand a little. It wouldn’t be anything to hurt them, he knew, but he had been quite enjoying himself and if this was a little nosey first year they could do one.

The passage way curved a little and whoever was coming towards them stopped just before the curve revealed them, their shadow casting itself along the wall. Bruno crept a little closer, watching the shadow sink to the floor.

It wasn’t a nosey first year.

“Felipe?”

Felipe looked up from where he’d curled up, glaring at the intruder until he saw who it was.

“Fuck off.”

“I haven’t even done anything,” Bruno said. “What’s wrong?”

“Fuck. Off.”

Bruno rolled his eyes and sat beside his friend, leaving Karun to lean awkwardly against the wall.

“What happened with Rob?” Bruno asked quietly. Felipe had had a crush on Rob for forever, and he knew it. Now it was all out in the open and the fact he was sat in some passage way and not on Rob’s lap said enough.

“Do not want to talk about it,” Felipe mumbled, leaning against Bruno. It had been why he had come here, rather than going to find Bruno. He’d wanted to be alone.

“Well you are going to have to talk about it,” Bruno said. “Because you are going to need to stay on the Quidditch team past Christmas, right? And if you’ve had a falling out with Rob…”

“I didn’t fall out with him,” Felipe snapped. “You don’t understand. Why don’t just fuck off?”

“Because I am your friend and you need me,” Bruno said, not put off by the outburst. They’d both been like this, at one point or another, during their time at Hogwarts. Felipe knew how to deal with Bruno and Bruno knew how to deal with him. “What happened?”

“I kissed him,” Felipe said, quietly. How could he have been so reckless? After how many years of waiting for the right moment and hinting and getting Rob’s attention. None of that had been working though. He’d _needed_ to try something new. And when Rob had been pretending to be interested in a relationship… “He lied to me.”

“What did he say?” Bruno asked.

“He…” Felipe shivered, glancing up at his friend. “He kissed me back,” he lied.

“He what?” Bruno asked. That didn’t sound like what Rob had been saying at the breakfast table.

Felipe nodded. “He kissed me back,” he said. “He told me he loved me and he was going to… he was going to make me do _things_. And when I said no he said he never loved me. He said…”

“Come here,” Bruno said, hugging Felipe and letting him cry. “That does not sound like Rob to me.”

“You didn’t _see_ him,” Felipe said. He didn’t know _why_ he was saying any of this, but once he’d opened his mouth he couldn’t stop the words tumbling out and he needed Bruno to believe him. “He hurt me, Bruno. Did not think he was going to let me go.”

“Yeah but at breakfast,” Bruno said, still a little confused. “Why would he be like that if…?”

“You do not believe me?” Felipe asked, looking up at Bruno through wet eyes.

“Of course I believe you. I just don’t understand,” Bruno said. “Why would he be like that?”

“Still wants me to do those things,” Felipe said. “I just wanted him to love me, Bruno. Why couldn’t he just love me?”

“Is not your fault,” Bruno said, standing up and pulling Felipe up again. “Come on. Think we should go back to the common room. Maybe you could do with a nap.”

Bruno was a little surprised to find Karun still stood there, his wand lit even though Bruno’s had gone out. He offered Karun a weak smile in apology. Karun nodded, understanding. Or understanding Bruno, anyway. Felipe, on the other hand…

“Could you lead the way?” Bruno asked Karun, half holding up Felipe.

Karun nodded again, glancing down at Felipe suspiciously before turning around and leading them back the way they had come.

“Said nobody would believe me,” Felipe said. “If I told them. Said all these things and was so confused. Then says more at breakfast and I do not know what he is trying to do. Just confuse me and make everyone think I am crazy, maybe. But I’m not. It’s true.”

“I know,” Bruno said, gently, patting his friend on the back. “Look, I’ll speak to him, alright? Maybe he just… misunderstood?”

“Was trying to _hurt_ me, Bruno,” Felipe said. “Please don’t speak to him. Just… just ignore him and maybe he goes away? Please.”

“Felipe, he needs to understand,” Bruno said. “And if he does understand then he needs to know he can’t just do those kinds of things to my friend and get away with it.”

“Please,” Felipe begged. “You cannot say anything. Promise me, Bruno.”

“Fine,” Bruno said. “I promise. Come on, let’s just get you back somewhere safe.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, we just turned whiney and bratty into actually quite cruel. Remember when I started writing and I had a flow chart that said "how to tell if character is a good guy" and basically the only indicator is if the character is Felipe, because pretty much anybody else can be a bad guy in my stories. Well, that's not really... accurate anymore.


	35. Awkward Arguments

“Why are you here?” Kimi asked, watching Sebastian think over his next chess move.

“What do you mean?” Sebastian asked.

“Why are you here?” Kimi asked again. “You should be helping Hanna, shouldn’t you?”

“There’s nothing to help her with,” Sebastian asked, moving him chess piece. “Dan’s away from Jev. That was all we were trying to do.”

“Why are you avoiding them, Seb?” Kimi asked, ignoring the fact it was his turn to make a move. Sebastian wasn’t looking at him, apparently focusing on the chess board but Kimi knew his friend better than that. His mind was elsewhere, and Kimi had promised the Vettel’s that he would look after their son. “Sebastian?”

“What?”

“Why are you avoiding Hanna and Dan?” Kimi said. “I thought you were friends.”

“We are,” Sebastian said, quickly. “It’s your go.”

“I am aware it is my go,” Kimi said. “Tell me why you are avoiding Hanna and Dan.”

“I’m not avoiding them,” Sebastian said. “I do not have to spend all my time with them, you know? Dan has problems and sometimes I do not want to deal with them. Sometimes I just want to come and play chess.”

Maybe that made him a bad friend, but he didn’t even care anymore. It was probably why he’d never managed to make friends before he came to Hogwarts, beside Kimi. That and the fact he was always surrounded by muggles.

“Are,” Kimi said. “Nobody is asking you to deal with Dan’s problems for him.”

“Then what _was_ Hanna asking?” Sebastian snapped. “If I knew you were going to be like this as well, I would have gone and sat in the common room.”

He stood but Kimi grabbed hold of his wrist before he could leave. “Sebastian.”

“What?” Sebastian cried, attracting a few looks from the other people sat in the Great Hall.

“Calm down,” Kimi said, his voice completely neutral. “Tell me what is going on?”

“Nothing’s going on,” Sebastian hissed, sitting back down. His cheeks were going red now and he glanced at the few people who had looked in their direction, glad to see they were turning back to their own business.

“Have seen you, Seb,” Kimi said. “Have seen how harsh you have been with Hanna over the past couple of days.”

“Because she keeps getting me involved in Dan’s problems.”

“You had no problem sorting out Dan’s mess when you were locking Jev outside,” Kimi pointed out.

“That was different,” Sebastian mumbled, but he didn’t think that was going to stop Kimi pestering him.

“How?”

“It just was,” Sebastian said. “Are you going to take your turn or not?”

“I will take my turn when you tell me what’s going on, Sebastian,” Kimi said.

“Nothing is going on,” Sebastian snapped. “I just have enough to do without Hanna making all Dan’s problems my problem.”

“Enough to do?” Kimi laughed. “It is the second week of your first year. What is there to do?”

Sebastian glared at him, but didn’t answer straight away, biting back his tongue. Kimi nodded for him to continue but Sebastian just shook his head.

“It’s your go,” he said.

“What is the matter, Sebastian?” Kimi asked. “What are you so stressed about?”

“It’s nothing,” Sebastian mumbled. There was nothing wrong with telling Kimi he had the extra potions “lessons” but he knew Kimi would go on and on at him until he found out the real purpose of his lessons, and the potions master had said he didn’t want that to happen. It was better if he just didn’t bring it up. “I’m not stressed.”

“Right,” Kimi said, finally making his next move in their game. If Sebastian wasn’t going to give him the answers he needed.

 

At dinner, Jev ducked his head down when he saw Dan come into the Great Hall, Hanna at his side. He hadn’t spoken to the Hufflepuff since the day before and even though Hanna _had_ said she would help, he didn’t know whether he should get his hopes up or not.

When he looked up again, Dan and Hanna were heading towards him, he was sure of it, and he offered Dan a weak smile as he shuffled over on the bench to let his friend sit down.

Dan stopped when he reached Jev but didn’t sit down. Hanna stood behind him, twisting the end of her sleeve around her finger, nervously.

“Hey,” Jev said, quietly, holding his breath a little as he waited for an answer from Dan.

“You mind if I sit with you?” Dan asked.

“No, not at all,” Jev said, gesturing to the seat beside him.

“I thought…” Dan said as he sat down.

“Was just trying to protect you,” Jev said. “But Hanna says she will help with that.”

Both boys turned to Hanna and the German smiled and nodded, happy her plan had worked and Dan was talking to her again. Dan beamed, his goofy grin back to it’s proper place, and patted the seat next to him for Hanna to sit down too.

 

“Dad asked me to ask how everything is going,” Claire said, watching Valtteri eat. It was a little strange to not see him pushing food around his plate, but the Finn had definitely cheered up recently.

“It’s good,” Valtteri said. “I’m fine.”

He wasn’t fine. He’d managed to get on top of all his work over the weekend without needing _that_ much extra time but he got the feeling he was going to die of exhaustion before Christmas. He could cope. He was sure he could cope and he didn’t want anybody going to Professor Williams about this. He was determined to get through the year like this.

“I could never imagine doing what you’re doing,” Claire said, serving herself some food. “I mean, O.W.Ls are hard enough, never mind doing them a year early. Maybe if I did them now, I’d be at your level, hey?”

She nudged Valtteri, trying to get the Finn to smile, but he just looked down at his food and then nodded.

“Well, Rob is a good teacher,” he said.

“Right,” Claire said, grinning as she stuck her fork into a chip.

Valtteri rolled his eyes. He’s thought she might give up on that one since Rob had supposedly rejected him, but apparently not.

There was a heavy thud on the table and Valtteri looked up to find a pile of books dumped amongst the trays of chips and peas. Susie stood behind them, grinning.

It was Claire’s turn to roll her eyes.

“What are those for?” Valtteri asked the Hufflepuff, eyeing the books with a confused look.

“Nothing, just ignore her,” Claire muttered, not even bothering to look at the third year.

“ _Actually_ ,” Susie said, sitting down beside her pile of books and placing a plate on top of them so she could eat as she explained. “They’re not for nothing. These are all the books I could find in the library on Squibs and their treatment in the wizarding world.”

“You are still going on about this?” Valtteri asked. She was committed, he would give her that much.

“ _Yes,_ ” Susie said, a little annoyed at her friend’s lack of enthusiasm. “And you’re going to help me.”

“Susie, I have told you, we have enough to do without this,” Claire said, tired of this now.

“No,” Susie said, taking as much food as she could fit on the plate. “You told me _you_ have enough to do without this. You never said anything about Valtteri?”

She looked up at the Finn with puppy dog eyes, but Valtteri wasn’t going to fall for it and Claire wasn’t going to give him enough chance.

“Valtteri has more to do than me,” she said. “Some of us care about our education.”

“And some of us care about the treatment of our fellow human beings,” Susie hissed. “ _Please_ Valtteri. I need a Ravenclaw mind and you are the best one I know.”

“Have O.W.Ls to study for,” Valtteri mumbled, unconvincingly. “And am tutoring some first years. And… there is stuff to do.”

“Please, Valtteri,” Susie said again, practically begging now. “I don’t understand what half these words mean. I managed to talk to Professor Schumacher. He thinks it’s a very kind and noble thing to do.”

“You got your head of house behind you?” Claire asked.

Susie nodded, proudly. “My head of house cares about the education of _everybody_.”

Well, if she’d managed to get a teacher on board, and a head of house at that, it couldn’t be that bad, could it?

“Do you have a plan?” Claire asked. She couldn’t believe she was going along with this but, like she’d _told_ Susie, she could see her point. She just didn’t want to get involved in anything that wasn’t a waste of time.

“Of sorts,” Susie said, slowly. “We’d need to gather support first. Start talking to other students. Other teachers. I was thinking maybe Toto might want to be involved or something.”

“So this is all just to get Toto Wolff to notice you?” Valtteri asked, a flicker of a smile beginning to appear on his face.

“ _No_ ,” Susie said, sternly. “This is about getting Squibs the education they deserve. If I wanted any boy’s attention, I could get it on my own, thank you very much.”

“And then what?” Claire asked, moving Susie along before she could get in an argument with Valtteri.

“Well,” Susie said with a small shrug. “If we get enough support, then the school governors will have to listen to us, won’t they. They’ll have to change how things work, if there’s enough to support.”

“Things don’t just change like that, Susie,” Claire said.

“Fine then,” Susie snapped. “How do I make things change, because I am going to do it. I just need the right help.”

“Alright,” Claire said with a groan. “I’ll help you. But if this is a waste of time, I won’t be able to carry on.”

“It won’t be,” Susie promised. “Right, step one: get the school on board.”

 

Mark was very surprised to find Nico sitting at the Gryffindor table when he joined Fernando and Jenson for dinner. He frowned, looking up to the top table to see if, for some reason, Professor Rosberg had disappeared into thin air, but the Slytherin Head was sat there with the other teachers as if nothing was wrong.

“Is there something wrong?” Mark asked, sitting down beside Fernando and wrapping his arm around his boyfriend’s waist.

“No,” Jenson said, smiling smugly. “Nothing wrong.”

All three of them were smiling, Mark noticed. Fernando seemed to be trying to keep in a laugh.

“What?” Mark demanded, removing his arm from around Fernando.

“Nothing,” Jenson said.

“Why are you here?” Mark asked, turning to Nico. It came out a lot more accusingly than it was supposed to, but he didn’t bother to apologise.

“Dinner,” Nico said. “The food is better at this table than any other.”

Fernando accidentally spat out his drink back into the goblet he was drinking from, wiping drool from his chin as he tried, and failed, to keep his laugh to himself.

“What’s happened?” Mark asked, folding his arms.

“He don’t like it when he can’t figure it out, does he?” Jenson said, winking.

“This isn’t funny,” Mark said.

“Is a little,” Fernando said.

“Tell me what happened,” Mark said. “Why’s your dad ok with this?”

“Because Nico is brilliant when he’s put on the spot,” Jenson said, grinning.

“Dad thinks I’m helping Jenson with girl troubles,” Nico said. “And getting secrets about the Quidditch team.”

“Oh, not you as well,” Mark said with a groan. You would think there was nothing else in the world that actually mattered beside Quidditch in Mark’s friendship group, it felt sometimes.

“It’s fine. We will not have to talk about it more than normal,” Fernando promised. “Well, maybe a little.”

“It’s just so my dad doesn’t start getting… ideas,” Nico said, choosing his words carefully. He looked up at the head table, but his father wasn’t looking down at them at the moment. He couldn’t believe it had taken him so long to come up with an excuse as to why he spent so much time around Jenson, but it was done now. The issue was finally sorted.

He smiled to himself, shifting a little closer to Jenson, and took some food from the Gryffindor’s plate.

Mark just rolled his eyes. If he was stuck with a bunch of Quidditch hooligans for another year…

 

Bruno had left Felipe sleeping when he came down for dinner, finding a seat beside Karun. Karun shifted, nervously, glancing over at the Ravenclaw table as his boyfriend sat down. He was going to have to bring it up. He knew it.

“Listen, about earlier…” Karun began.

“I am sorry I kissed you on the nose,” Bruno said. “And I’m sorry I kind of abandoned you. I just… you need to help a friend, you know?”

“Yeah, I understand that but…” Karun took a deep breath. He’d realised he didn’t really know Bruno well enough to know how he was going to react to that and it had occurred to him that, maybe, they shouldn’t be going out when they knew so little about one another. Or _he_ knew so little about _Bruno_. “Do you believe him?”

“Of course I believe him?” Bruno said. “What, you mean you don’t?”

“I would like to,” Karun said, knowing her was going to be treading on thin ice here. “But it doesn’t make sense. Rob doesn’t seem like that kind of person to me.”

“And Felipe seems like the kind of person who would lie about this?” Bruno said. He couldn’t believe his boyfriend was being so stupid.

“It just doesn’t make any sense,” Karun said, hoping Bruno wouldn’t hate him for this. “You heard what Rob was saying at breakfast.”

“He is just trying to discredit Felipe,” Bruno said. He shook his head. He’d sat with Felipe all afternoon, listening to his story and the more he thought about it, the more he believed it. No, what Rob had said at breakfast didn’t make much sense to him, but it must have just been him trying to discredit Felipe, make it so nobody at the table would believe him. And it looked like Karun had fallen for it. “I know my friend, and he wouldn’t lie about this.”

“I think he has,” Karun said.

“So you believe that… _monster_ ,” Bruno spat, shaking his head. “I do not believe you.”

“Why don’t you go over and ask him?” Karun asked. “You’ve only heard one side of the story.”

“I only _need_ to hear one side of the story,” Bruno spat. “You know what, Karun, if you are going to go on like this, could you go somewhere else and do it.”

“I am just saying…”

“You are just saying my best friend is a liar,” Bruno said, taking his plate and going to find somewhere else to sit and eat.


	36. Breakfast and a Show

Monday morning came too soon for most Hogwarts students. Slowly but surely, the Great Hall began to fill with students sleepily making their way to breakfast, a few shooting a glare at the professor they had first thing and hoping the teacher would not see them.

Sebastian sat, alone, at the Slytherin table. He’d arrived after Hanna, Dan, and Jev and was surprised to see the three of them happily chatting when he walked into the hall. None of them looked up as he approached and he thought it best to leave them to it, sitting alone at the table on the end as he watched his so called friends chatting away as if he didn’t exist.

He couldn’t explain why he didn’t want to go over and sit with them (and he knew that was the first thing that Kimi was going to ask if he decided to come over). He just knew they were happy, knew that Hanna had made them happy when he should have been helping her. He didn’t want another lecture from Hanna, either, and he was sure he’d get one of those too.

He’d known when he got on the train he wasn’t going to make any proper friends. Every time he did, he managed to screw it up somehow. He knew he should go over and apologise for whatever he’d done wrong, but that would involve figuring out an excuse as to why he didn’t want to help, because he knew Hanna would keep bugging him about that if he went over there, and he just didn’t have one. Not one he could give, anyway.

Sebastian looked past his friends to the head table, where Professor Horner was eating quickly before he disappeared to prepare for his first lessons. The teacher wasn’t looking at him and Sebastian looked away quickly before he could. He knew he was going to have to go and see the teacher in his lesson, and in an evening session again today. Not catching his eye wasn’t going to change that. But he could pretend for a little.

 

Jenson still couldn’t help glancing up at Professor Rosberg as Nico sat down beside him, but the teacher didn’t seem to be paying them any attention.

“We need to come up with a girl,” Jenson said, quietly, turning away from the head table just in case the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher decided to look in their direction.

“What do you mean?” Nico asked, a little confused. It was too early in the morning for this kind of thing and he was already trying to remember where he’d put the homework he was due to hand in the first lesson.

“A girl,” Jenson said again, as if that cleared it up. He’d been going over the plan with Fernando the night before and, though the Spaniard hadn’t come up with many suggestions that were any good, he’d made Jenson think of this. “If you’re supposed to be helping me ask out a girl, we should have a girl to ask out.”

“Oh,” Nico said, slowly. He hadn’t thought of that. “Well, who do you like?”

“I don’t like any of them,” Jenson said. He hadn’t thought that far ahead really. He didn’t have any female friends who would go ahead with this ridiculous plan either, and he didn’t want the poor girl to get confused and think he _actually_ liked her. That wouldn’t be fair on her.

“Well, you are going to have to pick someone,” Nico said. “What about someone on the Quidditch team.”

“Katherine?” Jenson snorted. “She’s only a third year, a little young for me.”

“Well, there has to be _someone_ ,” Nico said. “What about Jessica? You get on well with her, don’t you?”

Jenson looked down the table to where the girl in question was sat, gossiping with her friends. That… that could work.

“This is why I love you,” Jenson said.

“I know,” Nico said, proudly.

 

Felipe felt like he was going to face plant his cereal and drown he was so tired. Who invented Mondays anyway? He’d spent most of the previous afternoon sleeping but he still felt exhausted and he had a feeling that was just his brain tricking him into feeling how he usually felt around now.

Bruno sat beside him, eating his body weight in eggs and shifting Fernando’s goblet further and further away from him when he wasn’t looking.

Felipe looked up from his cereal to see Karun hurry past. He lifted his hand to wave him over, but the Slytherin only ignored him and hurried over to sit with his house mates.

“Has something happened between you and Karun?” Felipe asked, confused. He was pretty sure he hadn’t done anything to the Slytherin, but he hadn’t really been paying much attention the day before.

Bruno looked up to see Karun sit down across the hall.

“Oh, just ignore him,” Bruno muttered, dropping his game of annoy Fernando. “He is being an idiot.”

He didn’t even want to think about his so called boyfriend right now. Karun would see sense eventually, he was sure, but right now Bruno would rather keep the Slytherin at a distance so he could solve the problem at hand. Speaking of which…

Rob had been eating when the two Gryffindors came into the Great Hall. He hadn’t looked up when they came in but Bruno had been watching him. When he looked over now he noticed the Ravenclaw looking over at them.

“What have we got first?” Bruno asked.

“Bruno, my brain is not even awake yet, how am I supposed to remember our time table?” Felipe asked, rubbing his eyes and gazing into his cereal. It looked even more unappetising than last time he looked down at it.

“Do you fancy maybe…?” Bruno grinned and nodded towards Fernando. Another wind up would be just what they both needed right now. And it gave them an excuse to get out of the Great Hall.

“No,” Fernando said, having seen the nod and knowing exactly what it meant. “No, you are not doing anything. No more frogs.”

“They are _toads_ ,” Felipe and Bruno said in unison, a flicker of a smile back on Felipe’s face. Bruno grinned, triumphant.

“No more _anything_ ,” Fernando said. “You cannot, not whilst you are studying. How are you going to pass your exam? Want to be on the team, no?”

“I can do both,” Felipe said, sticking his tongue out at Fernando.

Fernando rolled his eyes. “You cannot! Please, boys, do not do anything.”

“Ok, Fernando, we will not do anything,” Bruno said, grinning as he stood. “We will not do anything, I promise.”

“Where are you going?” Fernando asked.

“I think we have potions,” Bruno said, pulling Felipe up and hoping they would be able to get out before-

“Felipe?” Rob placed a hand on the Brazilian’s shoulder, stopping him from following Bruno. “Felipe, can we talk?”

Bruno put himself between his friend and the Ravenclaw. “He doesn’t want to talk to you. Leave him alone.”

“Bruno just leave it,” Felipe said, tugging on his friend’s robes. He didn’t need Bruno to cause a scene. That was only going to make things even worse.

“This has nothing to do with you, Bruno,” Rob said, gently. “I need to talk to Felipe.”

“This has _everything_ to do with me,” Bruno said, pushing Rob back. “You cannot think you can try to force my friend to do anything and I will not do anything, can you?”

“Bruno, just leave it,” Felipe said through gritted teeth. People were beginning to look around now and soon the entire hall would be staring at them. “Come on.”

“I haven’t _forced_ him to do anything,” Rob said, confused. “ _He_ kissed _me_.”

“He has told me what has happened,” Bruno said, taking a step towards the older student and shrugging Felipe away. Felipe shook his head when Rob turned to him for an answer. There was nothing he could say to make this better now.

Karun watched from across the hall, students around him turning to see the show too. He shook his head silently and turned back to his food, unable to believe Bruno could be so stupid and believe all this, but his eyes soon turned back, hoping his boyfriend, if they could still call one another that, wouldn’t do anything stupid.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Rob said when Felipe wouldn’t tell him.

“You trying to take advantage of him,” Bruno said, loud enough for the entire hall to hear him. “Trying to force him to do things. It’s sick and I am not letting you do that to my friend.”

Rob gaped at him as if he’d gone mad for a couple of moments before turning to Felipe, again looking for an explanation. Felipe looked like he was about to burst into tears because this _wasn’t how it was supposed to go._ Why couldn’t Bruno just leave it alone like he’d asked?

“I don’t know what he’s told you but I haven’t done anything,” Rob said. Out of the corner of his eye he could see some of the teachers coming over to see what the problem was. “Felipe, tell him what happened.”

Felipe opened his mouth but nothing came out. He couldn’t speak.

“Is it really too much to ask for you two to not cause trouble for one day?” Professor Lauda asked, the first teacher to reach them.

“It is not us causing trouble this time, professor,” Bruno said, not a hint of a joke on his face.

“Bruno, leave it, please,” Felipe whispered. He looked up to Rob, hoping the Ravenclaw didn’t think he _wanted_ this to happen but Felipe couldn’t judge the look on his face.

“What has happened?” Professor Lauda asked.

“He tried to sexually assault my best friend,” Bruno said, jabbing a finger into Rob’s chest.

“I _what_?”

“He _what_?” Professor Lauda asked, ignoring the mutterings from the surrounding students. “Massa, is this true?”

“Felipe, tell them what happened,” Rob said.

Felipe looked between Bruno, Rob, and his head of house and gulped. He didn’t have much of a choice.

“It’s true.”

 

“It’s not true.”

Rob sat opposite Professor Williams in the empty transfiguration classroom, shaking. It wasn’t true. It wasn’t true and he hadn’t done anything, but they were going to punish him anyway.

Professor Williams nodded. “I’m going to need you to tell me what happened.”

“ _He_ kissed _me_ ,” Rob said. “He took me into one of those secret passages he knows about and he kissed me. I can even show you where. I pushed him away and he ran off. I didn’t force him to do anything.”

Tears began to make his vision blur but he refused to cry in front of his head of house, wiping his eyes quickly so he could watch Professor Williams. The teacher _had_ to believe him. This was going to ruin everything.

“He kissed you?”

“Yes.”

“And you did not do anything to lead him on?” the teacher asked.

“No,” Rob said. “I don’t… he’s like my kid brother. I’ve never thought of him like that before, sir, I swear.”

He was still trying to figure out why Felipe had thought that would be ok. It seemed to him that Rob didn’t know the Brazilian at all and it was really worrying him now.

“And there is no way he could be confused about what happened?” Professor Williams asked.

“He kissed me. I pushed him away. He ran off,” Robs said. “He’s not confused. He’s just lying.”

Rob couldn’t figure out _why_ he was lying. What exactly had he done to make Felipe think he needed to be punished this much?

“Please sir, I didn’t do it,” Rob mumbled, crossing his arms on the desk in front of him and burying his head in them.

“I know you didn’t,” Professor Williams said, making Rob’s head shoot up. “If I thought you’d done it, Rob, you would be out of Hogwarts already.”

“You don’t?”

“No,” the transfiguration teacher said. “But I have a feeling some of the other teachers will be a little harder to convince. I will have it sorted that they hear the truth, don’t worry.”

“How?” Rob said. He could only tell them what he’d told his head of house and, if that didn’t work, then he didn’t have any hope of convincing them.

“We use a truth serum,” Professor Williams said. “It’s unethical, but it will give us – _them_ – a definitive answer. I am sure I will be able to convince Professor Lauda to agree with me.”

“You… you can do that?” Rob asked. He’d read that they weren’t allowed to use truth serum. No matter how many people were wrongly accused, they weren’t allowed to use truth serum on the grounds of ethics.

“Yes,” Professor Williams said. “Not officially, but I do not think this calls for that. It will take a couple of days to brew though and during that time I think it would be safer for you to stay away from the other students until that has happened.”

“You’re putting me in solitary confident?” Rob asked. “I haven’t done anything. You can’t do that.”

“Whilst the rest of the school believes you have done this – and it is likely that this will be the case – it will be safer for you to be in solitary confinement,” Professor Williams said. “Don’t think of it as a punishment, Rob, because it isn’t one.”

“But I have lessons,” Rob said. “And tutoring. I’m still tutoring Valtteri.”

“It will only take a couple of days,” Professor Williams said, trying to calm his student down. “You are a clever lad, Rob, you won’t fall behind. And we will make sure Valtteri doesn’t fall behind either.”

Rob nodded, chewing on his thumb nail. He didn’t really have much of a say in the matter. If this was the only way his head of house could think of to convince the other teachers he wasn’t some kind of predator, then he was going to have to go along with this.

“I hate Felipe,” Rob muttered, glaring down at his hands.

“He probably has his reasoning Rob,” Professor Williams said, gently. “Not very sensible reasoning, but we will get to the bottom of this.”

Rob shook his head. There would be no reasoning, sensible or otherwise, that would make him change his mind on this. He hated him.


	37. Whispers Before Lunch

Transfiguration was cancelled, which meant Sebastian was wondering around the castle alone. He could have stayed in bed, he thought to himself as he tried to figure something to do. It would make sense to go and study. He had new potions to learn for Professor Horner and he hadn’t really wanted to look at them just yet. He didn’t want to look at them now. Kimi was right. It was only the beginning of week three and he _shouldn’t_ be this stressed. Half of him wanted to go to the potions master and tell him where he could stick his so called extra lessons. But he knew he would never do that. This was a chance to make a name for himself in the wizarding world and that was important. He’d spent too much time amongst the muggles and he couldn’t go back and lead the life his mother did.

So studying it was. No matter how much he hated it, and how stressed it made him, he was going to have to do it.

Now, if only he could remember which direction the library was actually supposed to be in…

 

“Explain to me what happened.”

It was strange to hear Professor Lauda speaking so softly, which only made Felipe feel even sicker. He was used to sitting in this chair in Lauda’s office, with Bruno sat beside him, but the Care For Magical Creatures teacher was usually giving him a lecture about why it isn’t a good idea to charm the first year’s text books or to transfigure Jenson’s broom stick two inches shorter. He wasn’t supposed to be being _nice_.

Bruno nudged Felipe gently, but Felipe felt like, if he opened his mouth, he was going to be sick.

“Rob Smedley-.”

“I am asking, Felipe,” Lauda said, sternly, and Bruno fell silent. It had been difficult enough to convince the teacher that he should be allowed in there with Felipe, to support his friend.

Felipe gulped and looked up at his head of house, then away again.

“Have… have had a crush on Rob Smedley for a while,” Felipe mumbled, his entire face burning. “Have been flirting and I thought he maybe liked me, so I took him somewhere private, you know, on Saturday, after dinner. And I kissed him.”

He could still picture the horrified look on Rob’s face when he had opened his eyes and the sick that was threatening to push its way up his throat rose a little higher.

“And then what?” Lauda asked.

_And then he pushes me away and I run off._

Felipe looked over at Bruno, who was nodding encouragingly, trying to get Felipe to carry on speaking. Felipe shook his head, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath.

“He kissed me back,” Felipe said, his eyes still closed. “Says he loves me. And was so happy, you know. Thought he loved me. Was sure of it.”

“It’s ok,” Bruno said, gently, putting an arm around his friend. “Tell Professor Lauda what happened.”

Felipe opened his eyes, surprised to find his head of house looking at him with a soft, kind smile. The look made Felipe shudder. He shouldn’t be being this kind.

“He… asked me to get on my knees,” Felipe said, physically shaking now. “But I said no. Did not want to do that. But he says he wants me to. Says if I loved him I would do it. He says he doesn’t really love me, but if I do this he will love me. And when I said no again he tries to push me down and make me, so I pushed him away and ran away.”

He shut his eyes again, trying to focus on stopping shaking. Bruno pulled him into a hug but it didn’t help. Why was it so hard to tell the truth? Why couldn’t he just _stop_?

“This is a very serious allegation,” Professor Lauda said after a couple of moments’ silence. “And we will have to take it very serious.”

“Do not want to cause any trouble,” Felipe said, quickly. “Please, sir. Did not want anyone to find out about this.”

“Smedley wishes to go into teaching, doesn’t he?” Professor Lauda said. “If this is how he treats his students, Felipe, he cannot be allowed to continue into this profession.”

“Please sir,” Felipe said, shaking his head. “Don’t.”

“Felipe,” Bruno said, gently. “You are doing the right thing by saying all this. Know you do not want to hurt him but if he does this to someone else I do not think you will ever forgive yourself.”

Felipe looked between his friend and his head of house. There wasn’t going to be any getting out of this, short of just telling them he had been lying, and that wasn’t really an option. He nodded, silently, tears trying to push their way from his eyes but he refused to cry. Rob would get out of this. Rob would figure out a way out of this.

“Right then,” Professor Lauda said, standing. “I will speak to Professor Williams about this and figure out a solution. You boys should get to lesson.”

 

Valtteri needed to calm down. He knew he should be in potions but his brain didn’t want to think straight so he was taking an hour off. He didn’t want to think of what was happening to Rob, what he was being accused of and what he was going to have to defend himself from. Valtteri knew he couldn’t help his boyfriend and panicking about it wasn’t going to do any of them any good. It wasn’t what Rob wanted.

He headed to the library, thinking the peace and quiet might actually do him some good. Reading up on what he was supposed to be doing in potions seemed like a good idea to him, even if his vision did blur as he looked through the stacks of books in the potions section. He would read up on what he was supposed to be doing and get focused before he had to go back the hour to take the lesson.

“Sebastian?”

Valtteri was surprised to find the first year standing on a floating stack of books as he looked for something high on one of the shelves. The first year was just as surprised to find Valtteri there too, jumping out of his skin and off of the pile of books, bringing the book in his hands with him. Valtteri waved his wand and a cushion of air caught the Slytherin, the books he had been standing on clattering to the floor around him.

Valtteri peered at the books.

“These are very high level texts,” he said, picking one up. No, Sebastian definitely should not have been reading about the history of the polyjuice potion.

“They’re what Professor Horner has told me to read,” Sebastian said, quickly, trying to collect his books up before the Ravenclaw was able to see too much.

“Now why is Professor Horner asking you to read about a potion that you do not even study until N.E.W.Ts?” Valtteri asked.

“None of your business,” Sebastian snapped, trying to shove the books in his bag. Valtteri could not find out about his “lessons”.

“No?” Valtteri asked. “Maybe I should go and ask Professor Horner and see what he thinks.”

“No!” Sebastian said, quickly.

“Then tell me why you are reading about these potions,” Valtteri said.

 

“Have you spoken to Jessica yet?” Nico asked as they left Defence Against the Dark Arts.

Jenson shook his head. He shouldn’t really be this nervous about talking to his fellow fifth year. It wasn’t as if he were actually asking her out, and he was pretty sure Jessica would go along with their plan anyway, but he still couldn’t shake his nerves.

“You’re going to have to do it soon,” Nico said. “Dad is going to start wondering what’s taking you so long.”

“We’ll tell him I was nervous,” Jenson said, as if that wasn’t the exact reason why he hadn’t told Jessica already. They watched the Gryffindor chat with her friends as she walked ahead of them, both of them trying to convince themselves that Jessica would go along with their plan.

“How is Mission Impossible going?” Mark asked, joining the pair as they made their way to their next lesson.

“Shush,” Nico hissed, spinning around to see if his father was looking, but all that could be seen was a wave of black as students hurried to their next lessons and tried to not get lost.

Mark grinned.

“What?” Jenson asked, suspiciously. Mark never grinned like that. He was the annoyed friend, not the annoying one.

“Nothing,” Mark said, the grin still in place.

“Where’s Fernando?” Jenson asked. He hadn’t seen the Spaniard in Defence Against the Dark Arts and they were supposed to be going to Divination together.

“Prefect duties,” Mark said. “Apparently Professor Lauda needed him for something or another.”

“You suppose it’s about Felipe?” Jenson asked.

“Maybe,” Mark said. He was still grinning, and Jenson didn’t trust that. Mark wasn’t the type to pull tricks or anything, but there was definitely something going on.

“What are you so cheerful about?” Jenson asked.

“I’m not allowed to be cheerful?” Mark asked.

“No, _you_ ’re not,” Jenson said. “What are you doing?”

“Alright, I’ll tell you,” Mark said. “But you cannot tell Fernando, ok?”

Jenson and Nico exchanged a confused look, but they both nodded. Mark knew they could keep a secret, and his grin grew.

“I’ve been thinking about it for a while,” Mark said, giddily. He took hold of Jenson’s arm and pulled him out of the stream of students, Nico following behind. “I’m going to ask Fernando to marry me.”

“You’re _what_?” Jenson and Nico said in unison.

Mark just grinned. “I know.”

“You’re fifteen,” Jenson pointed out.

“We’re not going to get married now,” Mark said, rolling his eyes. “When we’ve graduated and everything, then we’ll get married.”

“But you’re going to ask him now?” Nico asked.

Mark shrugged. “Why not? And I found the perfect ring and I just can’t wait any longer.”

“Why not?” Jenson repeated. “Because you are fifteen.”

“That doesn’t matter,” Mark insisted. “How long have we been going out now? We know each other better than we know ourselves. If I thought you were going to be this miserable about it, I wouldn’t have told you.”

“We’re not being miserable about it, mate,” Jenson said. “We’re just… don’t you think this is going a little fast?”

“It’s not as if we’re getting married here and now, is it?” Mark said. “It’s just a romantic gesture.”

“Alright,” Nico said. “We just don’t want you to do anything stupid.”

“I’m not,” Mark said with a wink, before hurrying away.

 

“He is having you brew polyjuice potion?” Valtteri said.

“I need to get to lesson,” Sebastian said. He couldn’t quite remember what he had next and he didn’t really want to be late but, when he tried to stand up, Valtteri pulled him back down into the chair.

“Sebastian, he cannot do that,” Valtteri said. “It is a restricted potion and he should not be making you brew it.”

“Just leave it,” Sebastian grumbled, trying to pull himself away from the older boy. He knew he should never have told Valtteri what Professor Horner was having him do in his extra potions “lessons”. There was no way he should have believed that Valtteri would have left him alone if he’d told the truth. And now, if the potions master found out he’d let their secret slip, Sebastian was going to be out of Hogwarts for good.

“I cannot do that,” Valtteri said. “He is using you, Sebastian, and for criminal purposes at that. Potions like that can only be made by government approved potions makers and sold through government agencies. Not by some high school teacher and a first year.”

“My potions are fine,” Sebastian snapped, defensively. “Professor Horner wouldn’t let them be sold if they weren’t fine. Mind your own business.”

Sebastian finally managed to pull away from Valtteri, running out of the library as fast as he could and leaving the books he was supposed to have checked out behind. Valtteri let him go. He needed to tell a teacher about this and his first instinct was to go to Professor Williams, but he was pretty sure his head of house was busy solving whatever kind of mess Felipe had made.

No, now he would head back so he could go to potions. He’d wasted the hour he had out listening to Sebastian’s problem, but it had definitely managed to calm down a little and now he just hoped he could get through the lesson without punching Felipe.

 

“Everyone was staring at me when we came into potions,” Felipe said as he and Bruno made the journey down to the edge of the Forbidden Forest where Care for Magical Creatures would take place.

“They were staring at us,” Bruno said. “And it is just because we were late. I thought Professor Horner was trying to curse us with his eyes. Do you think people can do that? Curse people with their eyes.”

“They were staring at me, Bruno,” Felipe mumbled, trudging along at approximately a snail’s pace. “Everyone knows what happened.”

“Sorry,” Bruno mumbled. “I probably shouldn’t have been so loud at breakfast. I was just angry, you know. And I didn’t want him to just get away with what he did.”

Felipe shook his head. Bruno shouldn’t have needed to apologise and, as angry as he was, Felipe knew he would do the same if it were the other way around. The only difference was that Bruno wouldn’t lie about something like this.

“They’ll have all forgotten about it by lunch,” Bruno said as they reached the edge of the forest. Whispering students stopped abruptly as they approached and Felipe rolled his eyes. Nobody was going to forget about this any time soon and even if Rob wasn’t going to be kicked out of the school, everyone was going to hate him for it.

“The Professor should be here by now, shouldn’t he?” Bruno said.

“He must be busy still,” Felipe mumbled.

He sat down on the grass, not looking at his fellow classmates as they went back to whispering about him. Bruno sat down too and sighed a little, trying to come up with something to distract Felipe.

“Do you want to see if we can convince Jenson to get us some extra practice sessions next week?” he said. “You can’t get enough practice.”

“Need to study,” Felipe mumbled. There was no way Rob was going to tutor him now, even if the Ravenclaw didn’t get kicked out of Hogwarts. He was going to need to find a new tutor or something, or figure out a way to study himself, and he didn’t _want_ that. He wanted Rob to tutor him and he hadn’t thought there was any way he could possibly have screwed things up any more after that kiss but apparently he had managed to do that.

“Oh, Felipe,” Bruno said with a sigh. “Maybe we can get Lauda to put off the exam for a while. After all this.”

“I don’t want him to put off the exam, Bruno, I want to pass it,” Felipe snapped, standing up. He wasn’t going to sit through this. He shouldn’t even have to be in lessons, he figured. He was going back to the castle and if Professor Lauda wanted to come and yell at him for it he could. At least then things would be back to normal.


	38. Proposals, advice, and screaming matches

Fernando wasn’t in Divination either so Jenson had to sit through the hour and a half of quite obvious acting from his Divination teacher alone. Jessica sat in a corner with her friends, peering in the tea cup as if it would actually do anything. Maybe the tea cups would tell them what would be on their Divination exam in the summer. Now _that_ would be useful.

Now would be a pretty good time to talk to Jessica, Jenson reasoned. But that would mean getting her away from her friends. Maybe he would be able to get her on her way out of the class, he thought, though that didn’t seem to be any easier when the group of girls stayed in a huddle as they left. In the words of a great wizard, why did they always move in packs?

“Jessica,” Jenson called, hurrying to catch up with the fellow fifth year as she made her way down the spiral staircase. “Can I speak to you a minuet?”

Jessica stopped and spun around, looking up to him. She smiled which only made Jenson even more nervous, not to mention the five girls behind her looking up at him expectantly too.

“Sure,” Jessica said, and Jenson gulped.

“In private,” he said.

A couple of the girls stood behind Jessica giggled but Jessica shot them a look and they stopped. All of them were still grinning up at Jenson, making the Brit’s face go as red as his tie and it was true what they said about heat rising because it was absolutely boiling all the way up here.

“Sure,” Jessica said again. She turned to her friends and told them she would catch up. The group of girls looked half disappointed, but the grins didn’t fade as they told Jessica they’d wait for her at the bottom of the staircase and carried on walking. Jenson let out a breath he hadn’t realised he’d been holding and let Jessica lead him to the side of the staircase and out of the stream of students. “What is it you wanted to speak to me about?”

“I… er…” Jenson ran a hand through his hair, hoping to pull the right words from thin air.

Jessica laughed at him. “Spit it out then.”

“I’m going out with Nico Rosberg,” Jenson spat out.

Jessica blinked, shocked. Clearly that wasn’t what she had expected Jenson to say. Jenson smiled sheepishly and let out a shaky breath, flicking his hands a little at his side to try to get rid of some of the nervous energy.

“Oh, well, congratulations,” Jessica said, a little confused.

“No, but Professor Rosberg doesn’t know about it yet,” Jenson said. “He can’t find out.”

“…alright…” Jessica said, slowly, the confusion on her face only getting worse.

“You know Professor Rosberg,” Jenson said. “He would never let his son go out with a _Gryffindor._ He doesn’t really like Nico being _friends_ with a Gryffindor.”

Jessica nodded, knowing it was true. Their Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher wasn’t exactly known for wanting to bring the four houses together.

“So he can’t find out,” Jenson said. “He’d make my life hell if he found out I was going out with Nico and that isn’t really what I want.”

“Alright,” Jessica said again. “What exactly does that have to do with me?”

“Oh, yeah, sorry,” Jenson said, his face going even redder. “Nico’s told his dad that he’s helping me ask out a girl. We’ve had to tell him something and that was the first thing that came to mind.”

“And you want me to be the girl?” Jessica asked, stopping Jenson from babbling.

“Yes,” Jenson said. “If you could. I mean… please?”

Jessica laughed, placing a hand on Jenson’s shoulder and hoping to calm him down a little. “I’ll be the girl, Jenson, don’t worry.”

“You will?” Jenson asked, a little surprised. He didn’t know why he hadn’t expected it to be that easy, but he was a relieved when she said yes.

Jessica laughed and nodded. “You don’t have to be so worried, Jense. I’m going to have to catch up with the others. Come and talk to me later, alright?”

 

Valtteri had tried hanging around at the end of his potions lesson to talk to Professor Horner, but the potion’s master had just shooed him away so he could prepare for his next lesson.

The Finn had a free period next and, as always he was planning on spending it in the library, when he bumped into a distraught looking Brazilian. Felipe tried to push away from him. He didn’t know where he was going he just knew he wanted to get away from everything. He wanted to get away from the whispers and the comments and from everybody who was watching him. But the last person he wanted to speak to was Valtteri.

Unluckily for him, Felipe was the first person Valtteri wanted to speak to. After Rob.

“What happened?”

“Am busy,” Felipe muttered, going to make his way toward the moving staircases. Maybe it would be alright if he just went back to his dorm and slept. He knew he should go and find out how Rob was, but that didn’t really fit into his story right now, and he was pretty sure Rob wouldn’t appreciate it. He wouldn’t believe that Felipe hadn’t wanted any of this to happen. He’d probably be angry, and Felipe wouldn’t even blame him. It would be best to let the sixth year cool off before he tried to explain.

“No you’re not,” Valtteri said, grabbing hold of Felipe’s arm and squeezing harder than he meant to. “Tell me what happened between you and Rob.”

“Is nothing to do with you,” Felipe spat, pulling his arm away and rubbing it where Valtteri had gripped it.

“Do not care if it has anything to do with me,” Valtteri said, the tops of his cheeks going a little red. This had everything to do with him. Rob was _his_ boyfriend, and Felipe had tried to kiss _his_ boyfriend. “Tell me what happened between you and Rob.”

“Fuck off,” Felipe snapped, marching off in the direction of the staircase. He’d go to the common room, where Valtteri wouldn’t be able to follow him. The Finn followed him anyway, pulling Felipe to a stop again.

“No,” Valtteri said. “Tell me what happened. Know you tried to kiss him.”

“He told you,” Felipe said.

Valtteri nodded, smirking at the surprise on Felipe’s face.

“Tell you he kissed me back?” Felipe asked.

“He what?”

Felipe took that to be a ‘no’.

“Kissed me back,” Felipe said again, crossing his arms. “I kissed him and he kissed me back and then he tries to force himself onto me.”

“Forced himself on _you_ ,” Valtteri said, shaking his head. “You liar.”

“Fuck you,” Felipe spat.

“Rob would not do that,” Valtteri said.

“Have already told you, you do not know Rob,” Felipe said. “And you were not there. Is only my word and Rob’s you have. I know what he did and I am telling you what happened. He tried to force himself on me. What? You are jealous he did not ask _you_ to suck his dick.”

Valtteri glared at him, drawing his wand. Felipe smirked at him, holding up his hands.

“That hits a nerve then,” he said.

Valtteri flicked his want, no idea what spell he was trying to cast but knowing what he wanted to do. A spark of green light flicked out the end of Valtteri’s wand, hitting Felipe in the knees and knocking the Brazilian to the floor. Valtteri’s eyes widened when he’d realised what he’d done, but he didn’t try to help Felipe.

The Gryffindor stumbled to his knees, clutching a bleeding nose.

“Go and tell Professor Williams you are lying,” Valtteri said, his voice quiet.

“Am not lying,” Felipe said.

“Go and tell Professor Williams you are lying!” Valtteri yelled at him, lifting his wand a little higher again.

“Mr Bottas.”

Valtteri spun around, surprised to find Professor Lauda standing behind him. His cheeks immediately started to burn even more with guilt and embarrassment. He lowered his wand quickly.

“Sorry, sir,” he mumbled.

“I should think so,” Professor Lauda said. “It is hard enough to go through something like this without having people scream at you and tell you that you are lying.”

“He _is_ lying,” Valtteri spluttered. “You don’t believe Rob really did this, sir.”

“I do not believe Felipe would lie about something like this,” Professor Lauda said.

“Seriously?” Valtteri cried. “He lies about everything. Is a trouble maker. Is trying to cause trouble because Rob rejected him.”

“Twenty points from Ravenclaw, and if you shout like that again, I’ll make it fitty,” Lauda said, beginning to lose his temper. “Now, do you have a lesson to go to, Mr Bottas?”

“No sir,” Valtteri said. “Free study period.”

“Maybe you should go and study then,” Professor Lauda said.

Valtteri opened his mouth to argue, but decided against it. There was nothing he could say to convince the Care For Magical Creatures teacher that his student was clearly lying. He nodded and, spinning on his heels, headed towards the library, glaring at Felipe as he passed.

“Now then,” Professor Lauda said, placing a hand on Felipe’s shoulder. “I do believe you have a lesson of mine to take.”

“Please sir,” Felipe mumbled. “I just want to go to bed.”

“Well, you cannot let your studies fall because of this, Felipe,” Professor Lauda said, steering Felipe out of the castle. “You cannot let him win.”

“I’m not,” Felipe said. “Please sir.”

“I cannot let you skive off, no matter what the circumstances are,” Professor Lauda said. “Come with me.”

 

“Where’s Seb?” Hanna asked as they came into the Charms classroom. She’d thought the Slytherin would have gone straight to wait for the next lesson, knowing how much he idolised the Charms teacher. But their friend wasn’t there.

Dan shrugged. “I’ve not seen him all day,” he said. He took a seat beside Hanna’s and pulled out a stool for Jev to sit down. The French boy was still a little uncertain, but he sat down beside Dan. The Australian squeezed his hand under the table before taking out the textbooks for the lesson.

“Me neither,” Hanna said. “Was he alright this morning, in the dorm?”

She turned to Jev, and the French boy was a little surprised to find the Hufflepuff addressing him directly.

“Um, he wasn’t there when I came down,” Jev said. He didn’t want to let on that he had spent every morning since he woke up from his fall down the stairs avoiding the German, not wanting to get in his way and annoy him anymore than he already had done.

“Oh,” Hanna said. It didn’t seem like Sebastian to be late for a lesson, especially not charms. “You don’t think he’s avoiding us, do you.”

“Maybe,” Dan said with another shrug, dumping his text book on the table with a loud bang. Jev elbowed him in the ribs and Dan looked at his friend, confused. Jev nodded over to Hanna. It was clear she was upset, and Dan would have to be stupid to miss it. “Well, maybe he is,” Dan said. "He has been acting like a bit of jerk.”

Jev felt like slamming his head against the desk there and then, but he just rolled his eyes and got his own text book out of his bag.

“I know,” Hanna said. “That’s why I’m worried about him. He’s on his own and I just want him to see how wrong we were.”

“Well,” Dan said, holding out his hands and showing they were empty. There wasn’t really anything he could do about that.

Jev sighed and leaned forward so he could see past Dan to Hanna. “Do you have a plan?”

Hanna shook his head. “I’ve tried speaking to him.”

“Maybe I could try speaking to him?” Jev suggested. “I do not know how much it would help, but I could try.”

“Could you?” Hanna asked.

Jev nodded. “As long as he has not disappeared off of the face of the planet. I will speak to him the next time I see him. Try to clear this up a little.”

 

“Sebastian?”

Kimi was, technically, on a toilet break, but he liked to dawdle to and from the bathrooms when he had History of Magic lessons. He hadn’t expected to bump into the first year, who looked very anxious and lost.

Sebastian looked surprised to see Kimi too, and instantly tried to hide his anxious expression with a smile, but Kimi had already seen it.

“What is wrong?”

“Just a little lost,” Sebastian said, scratching the back of his head and trying to look like he was trying to figure out which direction was right.

“Which way did your class go?” Kimi asked.

Sebastian shrugged. “I had Transfiguration, but it was cancelled.”

“Oh,” Kimi said. “Right then. What do you have now?”

“Charms,” Sebastian said. He was going to be late _again_ and there was no way Professor Schumacher was going to take him seriously at this rate.

“Right,” Kimi said. “I’ll take you.”

The charms classroom wasn’t that far away, and he was pretty sure his History of Magic teacher wouldn’t notice he’d been missing for fifteen minutes longer than he should have been missing. If the teacher was going to be a twat about it, Kimi would tell him he was taking a shit.

“Did you get things sorted out between you and Hanna?” Kimi asked, leading Sebastian down a corridor to a set of staircases that would take them to the right floor.

“Everything is fine between Hanna and me,” Sebastian lied, shuffling along behind Kimi.

“And that is why you are wondering around by yourself?” Kimi said, stopping and waiting for the first year to catch up. If Kimi didn’t know better, he’d think Sebastian didn’t even want to get to his lesson, but he’d spent most of the summer listening to his friend go on and on about Professor Schumacher, so he was pretty sure that wasn’t true.

“I was in the library,” Sebastian muttered, not picking up his pace from the slow shuffle.

“You need to not put so much pressure on yourself, Sebastian,” Kimi said. “You cannot possibly have that much homework already.”

“Like you’d know,” Sebastian mumbled under his breath, half hoping Kimi wouldn’t hear him.

“You have to use this time to relax and enjoy yourself,” Kimi said. “Worry about studying later.”

“When it’s too late” Sebastian said.

Kimi smirked. “You are catching on fast.”

“I’m getting ahead now,” Sebastian said. “Professor Horner says I have potential. That I’m a natural potions master.”

“Yes, but you are also eleven,” Kimi pointed out. “And you have to act like an eleven year old at some point, Sebastian. And if it is making you fall out with your friends and things.”

“It isn’t,” Sebastian said. “Everything is fine between me and Hanna and it would have been fine between me and Dan if Jev hadn’t showed up, and there’s nothing I can do about that.”

“You are sure?” Kimi asked.

“ _Yes_ ,” Sebastian insisted, even though he wasn’t sure of that at all. He had a feeling Hanna was still annoyed at him for not trying to sort things out for Dan, but that was his _own_ problem, and not something Kimi needed to get involved in.

“Right then,” Kimi said, but he still didn’t believe Sebastian. He led the first year to the top of the stairs, where Sebastian insisted he knew where he was going, then went back to his own lesson. If Sebastian wasn’t going to sort this out for himself, then Kimi was going to have to do it for him.


	39. Various Messes

This was a mess. Valtteri hadn’t seen Rob since breakfast. The sixth year hadn’t been at lunch or their afternoon tutoring session and Valtteri wasn’t really surprised to find he wasn’t at dinner either. Susie was sitting opposite him, going on and on about her plans but Valtteri wasn’t paying attention and he was pretty sure she knew that. Across the hall, Felipe was fine, laughing and joking with Bruno Senna as if there was nothing wrong, as if he hadn’t just destroyed Rob’s life.

What if they’d already sent Rob home? If it were true, and Valtteri _knew_ it wasn’t true, but if there was someone in the school who really _would_ do what Felipe claimed Rob had done, Valtteri would want them out of the school as soon as possible. But Rob _hadn’t_ done it, and what if they hadn’t even given him a chance to explain himself?

He needed to speak to Professor Williams. He was the teacher who knew Rob the best and he would be the best one to go and get help from.

“What’s wrong?” Claire asked when Valtteri stood.

“You said you would help me with this, Valtteri,” Susie said.

“Need to go and speak to Professor Williams,” Valtteri mumbled. The head of house wasn’t sat with the other teachers and Valtteri knew his best bet would be Professor Williams’ office. He marched out of the Great Hall and through the now familiar route to his head of house’s office. He didn’t know what he was going to say: just demand to know where Rob was and make sure nothing bad had happened to him, he guessed. Somebody had to be on Rob’s side.

Valtteri knocked quickly on the door and waited to be called in before entering. Professor Williams was sat at his desk with a pile of rolled up scrolls beside him. Essays from him seventh years to mark. He looked up and smiled when Valtteri came in, closing the door behind him.

“Is everything ok, Valtteri?” the teacher asked. “Is there a problem with your lessons?”

“No sir, that’s all fine,” Valtteri insisted. “I was wondering… where Rob is?”

“Oh,” Professor Williams said. “Nobody came and sorted out any alternative tutoring for you, I assume. I did send Claire to sort that out for you, but she’s become busy with this squibs thing.”

“What’s happened to him?” Valtteri asked. “You know, he hasn’t done what Massa said he did. You know Rob. He wouldn’t do something like that, especially not to someone like _him_.”

Valtteri was pretty sure Rob would want nothing to do with Felipe if it weren’t for the tutoring sessions. He wasn’t Rob’s _friend_ , no matter what the Gryffindor thought. He was just… in the way.

“I know,” Professor Williams said. “Rob is in solitary confinement for his own good. What is it the muggles say? Mud sticks. It’s best he is kept out of the way until we can sort this whole mess out.”

“You’re… are sorting it out?” Valtteri asked. “Are helping him?”

“Why don’t you come and sit down, Valtteri,” Professor Williams said. “I’ve been meaning to have a chat with you since you came back to Hogwarts.”

“I’m fine,” Valtteri insisted, as he had kept insisting since he had come back. He didn’t need anybody worrying about him or telling him he couldn’t do it, when he knew he could. He just needed to get used to the extra hours.

“You are sleeping properly, aren’t you Valtteri?” Professor Williams asked. “Every extra hour gets an extra ten minutes sleep. You are keeping up with that?”

“Yes sir,” Valtteri lied. He was sure he would get into the proper routine eventually, but that hadn’t been high on his priorities recently.

“Good,” Professor Williams said. “But you do know that deciding to do your O.W.Ls next year with everybody else isn’t failing. You’re not failing just because you’re not ahead.”

“I really am fine sir,” Valtteri said. He should have known he was going to get all this when he went to see his head of house. It was bad enough having Claire and Rob worry over him all the time without his teacher thinking he couldn’t cope with the extra lessons either.

“Well, that’s good,” Professor Williams said, but he didn’t look satisfied to Valtteri. The Finn didn’t know what exactly he wanted. Maybe his teacher was just waiting for him to fail. It wouldn’t surprise him. Maybe Professor Williams had only been pretending to be supportive but really he didn’t care what Valtteri achieved in his exams. “Is there anything else?”

Valtteri shook his head. “I just… you have to help Rob. Professor Lauda thinks he did it, but he _didn’t_. Felipe’s lying.”

“I know, Valtteri,” Professor Williams said. “I’ll let Rob know you’re concerned, but we have the situation under control. Don’t worry.”

“Alright,” Valtteri said, still unconvinced. “How long is he going to have to be in solitary confinement?”

“Just a few days,” Professor Williams said. “I’ll have Claire cover his tutoring sessions for you, if you like.”

“No,” Valtteri said. He didn’t give a shit about the tutoring anymore. He just didn’t want Felipe to ruin Rob’s life. Rob was the last person who deserved this. “No, it will be fine, I’ll cope.”

“Alright,” Professor Williams said. “If you’re sure.”

 

“This isn’t going to end well,” Nico muttered to Jenson as they both watched Mark and Fernando chatting away. Fernando was practically sat on Mark’s lap as they ate together and Jenson couldn’t help but feel a small pang of jealousy that they could be _together_ together, whilst he and Nico couldn’t, but it passed swiftly.

Jenson nodded in agreement. They should have come up with a way to talk Mark out of it, but it seemed like he had his heart set on the proposal thing. The boy was a Ravenclaw, for goodness sake. He should have realised this was a terrible idea, but apparently love had made him blind.

“What happens if Fernando says no?” Nico asked.

“What happens if Fernando says _yes_?” Jenson said. “You know him. He’d probably give up doing his N.E.W.Ts to go and run off and get married.”

“Mark wouldn’t let him do something like that,” Nico said.

“No?” Jenson asked. “I’d have said the same, but I would have never thought Mark would do something like _this_ either.”

“I still don’t think he would,” Nico said. “He said he’d wait until after they graduate to get married. This is Mark we are talking about.”

“Is it?” Jenson said. “This isn’t any Mark I know.”

Something about his friend had changed, and Jenson wasn’t sure if he liked it or not. He looks back over to the Ravenclaw sitting further down the table, and there didn’t _seem_ to be anything wrong with him, but Jenson was still suspicious. The last thing they needed right now is Mark and Fernando breaking up.

“Well, I don’t think Fernando is going to give up Quidditch quite so easily as he would school,” Nico said. “Wedding or no wedding.”

“I guess you’re right,” Jenson said. If there was one thing he could rely on Fernando for, it was Quidditch. “I suppose we’ll just have to deal with that problem when we get to it.”

“If we get to it,” Nico corrected him. “And speaking of problems… have you spoken to Jessica yet?”

They hadn’t had a chance to speak about the plan they had come up with since Jenson had spoken to Jessica, Nico having been pulled away by trouble first years whenever Jenson tried to tell him he’d finally made a move.

The Gryffindor nodded. “She said she’d go along with it.”

“See,” Nico said. “I knew she would.”

“Hmm,” Jenson said. His eyes slipped away from Mark and Fernando, down to Jessica, who was sat with her usual group of friends. She seemed to sense he was looking at her, though, looking past her friend to meet Jenson’s eyes. Even though she continued nodding at whatever her friend was saying, Jenson knew the smile was for her. Jenson smiled back, going slightly red, before looking quickly away.

“Are you alright?” Nico asked, a little concerned as Jenson dived into his dinner.

“Fine,” Jenson said through a mouthful of mash potato. “Just hungry.”

“Alright then,” Nico said. He smiled to himself smugly. Maybe he wouldn’t fail his exams in the summer after all, if he thought so well under pressure.

 

“You are a little jumpy,” Kimi said when Sebastian practically jumped out of his skin when Valtteri got up. The German calmed down when he saw Valtteri leaving, Professor Horner still sat at the staff table and enjoying a conversation with Professor Rosberg. The Finn wasn’t going to blow his secret just yet then.

“Sorry,” Sebastian mumbled, returning to his food. He wasn’t his usual talkative self. He hadn’t been his usual talkative self since he arrived at Hogwarts and Kimi was beginning to worry if the pressure was going to change his friend permanently. He’d always known his friend was a hard worker, but this was a little too much.

“Why don’t you go over and sit with Hanna and Dan,” Kimi said, nodding over to the two first years who sat, with Jev, at the other end of the Hufflepuff table.

Sebastian shook his head and looked down miserably at his dinner.

“You are going to make yourself ill if you carry on like this, Seb,” Kimi said. “They are you’re friends. If you want I will go with you?”

“I don’t need you looking after me all the time,” Sebastian said. “I’m eleven years old.”

“And are acting more stressed than a Ravenclaw at exam time,” Kimi said. “Do need someone to look after you, clearly. Come on. Up.”

The Hufflepuff pulled his friend out of his seat and took Sebastian down the arm to go and sit with Hanna, Dan, and Jev. Kimi still didn’t know what to make of the French boy, but he hadn’t seen him do anything that bad since the trip down the stairs and, if Hanna and Dan trusted him, he figured Sebastian was going to have to too.

The three first years all looked up at Kimi and Sebastian as they came over.

“Do you mind if we sit with you?” Kimi asked, when Sebastian didn’t say anything.

“No, come and sit down,” Hanna said, smiling brightly. She hoped this meant Sebastian had snapped out of his funny attitude and wanted to be their friend again.

Kimi sat down on the same side of the table as Hanna, pulling Sebastian down so he was trapped between the two of them.

Nobody said anything for a while, sitting in an awkward silence. Jev sat with his eyes on the plate in front of him, not sure what to say. He knew he’d promised Hanna that he would speak to Sebastian, but he’d been hoping he would get the chance to do that in the privacy of their common room, and had been planning to offer him a game of chess so they could chat. He didn’t know what to say whilst the others were all there.

Dan smiled weakly at Jev, taking his hand under the table and squeezing it gently. Jev smiled back.

“Heard you Transfiguration class was cancelled,” Kimi said, trying to start a conversation again. It was as if the first years didn’t actually want to sort this out. It did occur to Kimi that, maybe, they didn’t, but he didn’t care anymore. They were going to sort it out. Sebastian was going to have friends, whether he wanted them or not.

“Yeah,” Hanna said, doing her best to follow Kimi’s lead. “We went exploring. Do you know any of the good secret passageways?”

“Cannot say I have ever searched for them,” Kimi admitted. “Did you find anything good?”

“No,” Hanna said, sadly. “Dan got us lost though.”

“He has a habit of doing that,” Sebastian joined in, smiling a little.

“Like you never get lost,” Dan said, bitterly. He didn’t glare at Sebastian, but there was no hiding the fact that, if it were down to him, Sebastian probably wouldn’t be sat here.

“Is not easy to navigate when you are first years,” Kimi said, trying to move the conversation on before an argument broke out and Sebastian refused to try this ever again. “Is not easy to navigate even when you are in your sixth year.”

“How often do you get lost then?” Hanna asked, teasingly.

“Often enough,” Kimi said. He smiled at Dan, trying to encourage the usual grin on the young Australian’s face, but there was nothing. “What about you, Jev?” Kimi asked, deciding maybe drawing the French boy into the conversation might help. “Do you get lost lots?”

“Only when I am following Dan about,” Jev said with a weak smiling, hoping that was the right answer and the sixth year wasn’t about to put a hex on him.

“I ain’t that bad,” Dan said, as if the idea of it was completely offensive. “And you can talk anyway,” Dan shot at Sebastian, who was just beginning to smile again. “Where were you at the beginning of Charms?”

Sebastian didn’t say anything for a couple of moments, the smile falling from his face. He wanted Dan to be his friend again, but it looked like the Australian didn’t want that to happen and, if he were honest, Sebastian didn’t really blame him. There had to be a reason nobody ever wanted to be his friend, and Dan must have figured out whatever that reason was.

Then Kimi laughed and put his arm around the young Slytherin. “For sure, he was lost too, are not the only one Dan.”

Hanna grinned and Jev seemed to be trying to hide his own smile behind his hand as Sebastian’s face lit up bright red. Dan was the only one not won over by the comment, but Kimi didn’t seem to notice, already serving himself some of the desert that had appeared on the table.

 

“What has happened between you and Karun?” Felipe asked. He was sure he had seen the Slytherin quickly look away from them whenever he looked over at him and he couldn’t understand why Karun hadn’t come over to sit with them when he came in. Unless something had happened between him and Bruno.

“Nothing,” Bruno insisted. “I still think we should go and speak to Jenson about getting some extra quidditch practice. It’ll take everything to beat Ravenclaw this year, I think.”

Felipe sighed and nodded, still watching Karun when the Slytherin glanced in their direction, quickly looking away when he saw Felipe watching him. There was something wrong between Bruno and Karun. The pair had been inseparable, until this morning. But if Bruno didn’t want to talk about it, he didn’t want to talk about it, and Felipe couldn’t make him.


	40. Plotting at breakfast

The food Rob had been given for dinner still sat on the little table he’d been given when he woke up. Or resurfaced from his thoughts in the morning, because it didn’t really feel like he’d slept at all. He hadn’t had the stomach to eat it and he didn’t think he was going to be able to eat whatever he would be served for breakfast either.

All he could do was replay the past few days over and over again, staring at an unfamiliar ceiling and wishing he could go to sleep and wake up and discover that this was all a dream.

What if his head of house didn’t get this sorted out? Potions went wrong sometimes. There was a reason truth serum wasn’t used in courts and things. What if it went wrong and it let Felipe lie to them? He’d be thrown out of Hogwarts, that was a certain. But then what? Who would want to employ him? Who would want to employ a-

Rob didn’t even want to think about what Felipe had accused him of being, but he couldn’t help it. That would be what he would be known as if Professor Williams’ solution didn’t work. That was what most of the school would already think of him as. They’d all believe Felipe.

And what if he was right? That thought was even worse than Professor Williams’ solution not working, but Rob couldn’t get rid of it. Sometimes he’d do things and then not remember doing them afterwards. Nothing _bad._ But he’d go to write essays and find them already half finished on his desk. Or he’d finish books and then completely forget he’d ever read them. One time his mother had asked him what it had been like at the Northern Wizarding Museum and he couldn’t even remember going, even if he did have the souvenirs. What if he really had done what Felipe accused him of doing, but he didn’t remember?

The thought made Rob’s head spin and he felt sick, but it wouldn’t go away. He wouldn’t do something like this. He _wouldn’t_.

But there was still that doubt there. Because why would Felipe lie? He couldn’t think this was some kind of joke, could he? He wouldn’t have let it get this far if he did. Rob didn’t understand. He didn’t understand any of it and, right now, if it weren’t for the fact he would probably never end up teaching again, he wouldn’t mind just going home and never having to deal with this ever again.

 

Sebastian liked to head out early in the morning. Go on a walk around the castle grounds and wake his mind up a little. And get away from Jev. He wasn’t to know the French boy was trying to avoid him too. Especially when he was sat on Sebastian’s bed once the German had come back from brushing his teeth. Waiting for him.

“Where are you going this early?” Jev asked. He tried to sound friendly, but he didn’t think Sebastian would find _anything_ he said friendly.

“For a walk,” Sebastian said, shooting Jev a glare.

“Do you mind if I come with you?” Jev asked. He wasn’t sure if this was a good idea, but he knew he needed to make Sebastian see sense, to make Hanna happy. It was the least she deserved after sorting things out between himself and Dan.

“Yes,” Sebastian said, bitterly. He still didn’t know what game Jev was playing but he had enough to deal with without this as well.

“Fine,” Jev said. “I will just walk alongside you. Coincidence.”

Sebastian rolled his eyes. All he wanted was the peace and quiet for half an hour in the morning, and now he couldn’t even have _that_. Why did life hate him so much?

“Fine then,” Sebastian said, pulling on his robe and hoping that would be as much protection from the cold as he would need. “But please be quiet.”

“Of course,” Jev said, standing and following Sebastian out of the common room. The castle was deserted at this time in the morning, and Sebastian didn’t _need_ to go outside to be alone, but he preferred the fresh air.

Jev walked half a step behind Sebastian as the German made his usual walk around the grounds. It was getting colder and colder and soon he wouldn’t be able to come out here without extra robes or something. He guessed the weather was why muggles didn’t really venture this far north. He felt a little sorry for them. They didn’t get to see the idyllic landscapes or enjoy the peace and quiet, all because of the weather.

“I am sorry, you know,” Jev said after a few minutes silence. He had planned what he was going to say and hoped it was going to go as well as it had done when he’d rehearsed the conversation in bed the night before.

“What for?” Sebastian asked, forgetting his vow of silence for a moment. When he remembered, he felt like smacking himself in the forehead, but he’d spoken now and there was no going back.

“For what I did before,” Jev said. “To you and Dan. Dan told me. It is why I did not want to hang out with him anymore. In case I do something like that again, but Hanna says she will stop that happening, if I change back to how I was.”

Sebastian rolled his eyes but didn’t reply, picking up his pace a little and bowing his head when a cold rush of wind threatened to blow the two first years away.

“Is that it?” Sebastian asked when Jev didn’t say anything.

“Well… yes, I suppose,” Jev said. “Hanna is worried about you.”

“So why isn’t she here ruining my walk, not you?” Sebastian asked, resisting the urge to roll his eyes again. Of course Hanna was worried about him. All she ever seemed to do was worry about one thing or another.

“She doesn’t think you’ll listen to her,” Jev admitted. He didn’t think Sebastian would listen to _him_ either, but he’d promised Hanna he would try.

“And she thinks I’ll listen to _you_?” Sebastian said, and maybe Sebastian and Jev have more in common than they thought.

“I thought if I apologised. Maybe you would go and speak to them again,” Jev said, even though that sounded like a stupid idea now he said it aloud.

“Them?” Sebastian asked, falling to a stop and making Jev almost walk into him. “You mean Hanna and Dan? I am _fine_ with Hanna and Dan. It’s them who do not want to speak to me. Or are you more of an idiot than I thought you were.”

So now _he_ was in the wrong. He wasn’t the one who was ruining their friendship. He wasn’t the one who didn’t want to speak to them. Just because he spent more time studying than he did messing about. It was _Dan_ who wouldn’t even smile at him.

“Hanna thinks you don’t want to be friends with us anymore,” Jev said.

“I never wanted to be friends with _you_ ,” Sebastian said. “You said Dan told you what you did. Why would I want to be friends with you?”

“Alright, not me,” Jev said, beginning to get annoyed by Sebastian’s attitude. “But Hanna and Dan. Hanna wants you all to be friends again.”

“Then she might want to have a word with Dan about that,” Sebastian said. He couldn’t be bothered to deal with this right now, but there wasn’t anywhere he could go that the French boy wouldn’t be able to follow him.

“Maybe… maybe we could pretend to get on?” Jev suggested. “And then I think that would make Dan happy.”

It would make all of them happy, really. He didn’t have anything against Sebastian, but he understood why the German didn’t really like him. Hanna had managed to change her mind about Jev though so it couldn’t be _that_ hard for Sebastian. Or that was Jev’s reasoning, anyway.

“Me? Get on with you?” Sebastian asked, almost laughing as he shook his head. “I do not think that is such a good idea.”

“Just pretend,” Jev said. “You can go back to hating me as soon as we are back in the common room, if you like. I just want Dan and Hanna to be happy.”

Sebastian stopped and looked at Jev again. He almost couldn’t believe this was the same boy who had tried to lock Dan in the cupboard at the start of their charms class. Even the way he was _standing_ looked different. But he was still the same kid, and Sebastian knew it, even if nobody else did.

“Fine,” Sebastian said, a plan beginning to form. It was a challenge. Who could keep pretending longer, him or Jev? This was all a game to the French kid and Sebastian was sure he could beat him at it, and then Hanna and Dan would see him for what he really was. “I’ll go along with it.”

“You will?” Jev said, surprised. “Great. Thank you.”

“We don’t have to do it now,” Sebastian said. “Leave me alone. I’ll see you at breakfast.”

 

“So what’s the plan?”

Jessica sat down beside Jenson, taking sausages from the Brit’s plate and putting them on her own. Fernando raised his eyebrows but said nothing, turning to his own food whilst his friend began to blush again.

“What plan?” Jenson asked, a little confused.

Jessica rolled her eyes. “The plan with you and Nico and Professor Rosberg?” she said, as if it were obvious. “What do you want me to do?”

“Nothing,” Jenson said. He hadn’t really sat down and had a discussion with Nico about this, already side tracked with Mark’s unusual habits. “I just have to pretend to like you. I just didn’t want you to think I really liked you, is all. You don’t need to _do_ anything.”

“Oh,” Jessica said, a little disappointed. “And here’s me thinking I was going to be a spy or something.”

“Maybe next time,” Jenson said, grinning.

“So what do I do when my mates start gossiping about you?” Jessica asked. “Because if you’re shooting heart eyes in my direction, they’re going to talk.”

“They will?” Jenson asked.

Jessica rolled her eyes as if Jenson were stupid. “Of course they will. Girls notice these things.”

“They do?” Jenson asked, even more surprised.

“It’s a good thing you don’t actually want to go out with a girl,” Jessica said. “We notice. So, what do I tell them?”

“Just play along,” Jenson said. He didn’t know what playing along would really involve but Jessica was a smart girl. She should really have been a Ravenclaw. She would figure something out.

Jessica rolled her eyes again, but nodded. “I guess my secret missions will have to wait a little longer to be interesting.”

“Hey, could be worse,” Jenson said. “Could be some greasy haired third year you have to pretend is interested in you, not a devilishly handsome quidditch captain.”

Jessica snorted back laughter, taking another bite of the sausage and watching Jenson blush again before turning back to his own food. Yes, this could definitely be worse.

 

Bruno was surprised to see Karun coming over to sit with him at breakfast. Maybe now the Slytherin had actually thought about what had happened he’d managed to swallow his pride and come over to apologise. Bruno wasn’t sure, but he would readily accept an apology if one was going to be made.

“Where’s Felipe?” Karun asked.

“Library,” Bruno said. He’d tried to convince his friend to come and have some breakfast, but Felipe had muttered something about the exam and headed off in the direction of the library. Bruno had a feeling it was more to do with people whispering, but he hadn’t said anything.

“Can I talk to you?” Karun asked.

“Have you come to apologise?” Bruno asked, looking up at his… were they even still going out?

“What for?” Karun asked, confused.

“For accusing Felipe of lying,” Bruno said. “For taking that pervert’s side over his.”

“I am not taking anybody’s side,” Karun said. “I’m just saying we should look at the facts before we jump to conclusions.”

“You want facts?” Bruno asked. “Where is Smedley? If Felipe was lying, Smedley wouldn’t have been kicked out of the school, would he?”

“Smedley’s not been kicked out of the school,” Karun said. He’d been speaking to Bottas about the whole thing, trying to figure out what was really going on. He didn’t know Rob too well and didn’t know who any of his friends were, but he knew he’d been tutoring the Ravenclaw and hoped he might know a thing or two. “He’s just in solitary confinement until they figure out what really happened.”

Bottas had seemed as adamant Rob _hadn’t_ touched Felipe as Bruno was he _had_ , and Karun didn’t really know who to believe. He wasn’t going to take anybody’s side until he knew the truth and he knew neither Bruno nor Bottas were going to be the ones to give him it.

“That pervert is still in the school?” Bruno cried.

“He’s in solitary confinement,” Karun said again. “It’s not as if he can hurt you.”

“Fuck off, Karun,” Bruno said, standing. He needed to go and warn Felipe.

 

Jev was alone when he came into the Great Hall for breakfast. He quickly spotted Dan and Hanna sat together on the Hufflepuff table and headed over, ignoring the looks he got from the students on the Slytherin table he assumed had been his friends before the accident.

“Did you speak to Sebastian?” Hanna asked as soon as Jev sat down.

“Give the man a second,” Dan said, laughing, but all three of them knew it was fake.

“I spoke to him,” Jev said. “I think I have gotten it all sorted out.”

He smiled when Hanna beamed at him, reaching across the table to pull Jev into a hug.

“Thank you,” Hanna said. “I know he’s been a bit of an idiot and you didn’t need to do that…”

“Did,” Jev said. It was his fault the three of them weren’t all friends in the first place.

“You didn’t,” Dan said, taking hold of Jev’s hand under the table again and squeezing it a little.

Jev just smiled and pulled his hand away so he could get something to eat. After a brief awkward silence, Jev decided it was about time Dan learned what quidditch was.

Mid way through his explanation, with Hanna jumping in with a few points every now and again, Jev noticed that Dan’s smile had fallen a little, and the Australian was looking behind Jev at something.

Jev knew what to expect and spun around to find Sebastian looking a little lost at the back of the hall. He grinned and waved him over, playing the part for Hanna and Dan. Sebastian had spotted him, but still looked a little unsure.

“You’re sure you got this all sorted out?” Hanna asked, not at all convinced by the look on her friend’s face.

“Yes,” Jev insisted, waving to Sebastian a little more frantically and finally the German put on a smile and came over to sit with them.

“I ain’t talking to him,” Dan said, crossing his arms.

“Don’t then,” Hanna said. “You can both be idiots.”

She grinned as Sebastian sat down beside her, the German smiling weakly at the three of them as he wished them a good morning. Dan just rolled his eyes and returned to his now soggy cereal, the smile that had been on his face as he spoke to Jev about sports completely gone.

Jev sighed, deciding against trying to start conversation when the only person who looked like they wanted one was Hanna. It was going to be a long day, he guessed.


	41. Carrying On

Valtteri sat at the front of the class, doing his best to concentrate on the Transfiguration lesson he shouldn’t really have been taking for another year. Rob wouldn’t want him to fall back in his studies and, when Professor Williams got this all sorted out and cleared Rob’s name, Valtteri didn’t want to have to be catching up on work he’d missed. He was not going to let Felipe ruin his O.W.Ls.

Behind him, Fernando and Jenson weren’t concentrating quite so much.

Jenson kept glancing back at Nico and Mark, who were sat a couple of rows behind them. Mark seemed his usual self, engrossed in what Professor Williams was teaching and paying no attention to anyone else in the room, not even Fernando. He hadn’t mentioned the proposal again, but he’d winked at Jenson at breakfast and it had made Jenson shiver. The Ravenclaw _did not_ wink at people. It was too out of character and scaring Jenson a little.

Fernando didn’t seem to have noticed.

The silent class burst with noise once Professor Williams had given them there task: turning a muggle globe into a functioning crystal ball. Jensen glanced back at Mark again, thinking the Ravenclaw might make a move to pull Fernando away then and there, but Mark’s main focus was, as always, the lesson at hand.

Jenson decided it might be a good idea to have a word with Fernando now, before the Australian could make any kind of move at all.

“So, you had any thoughts about your N.E.W.Ts yet?” Jenson asked.

“Have not changed them from last year,” Fernando said, a little confused.

They’d had the talk with the person from the careers centre, Mr Prost, after Christmas during their fourth year, so they had some idea what they were working towards in O.W.Ls and then N.E.W.Ts. Fernando hadn’t admitted to Jenson he wanted a place on the Daily Prophet’s Sports column, thinking his friend would find the ambition as stupid as Mark had, making up some rubbish about the ministry. There were no subjects he had to take so much, and he had decided he was going to take N.E.W.Ts that would give him enough free time to help Jenson with the Quidditch and to keep any of his more chaotic house mates under control.

“Why are you asking?” Fernando asked. “Are you changing your mind?”

“No, nothing like that,” Jenson said. “I just wanted to make sure you’re sticking around.”

“Why would I not be sticking around?” Fernando said, laughing. To be honest, there was no reason _for_ him to stick around. Other than Quidditch and the fact he didn’t really want to leave until he had a job lined up. There was no way he was sponging off of his parents. Even if he wanted to, his mum would probably kick him out to get some boring ministry job. Hogwarts gave him a couple of years’ relief. And a couple more years with Mark.

“Ah, no reason,” Jenson said, patting Fernando on the back and turning to his globe, trying to remember the spell Professor Williams had just gone over.

Fernando frowned at the uneasy grin on his friend’s face, trying to work out what was wrong with Jenson whilst Jenson tapped the globe silently with his wand, in the hope it might do something.

“What is the matter?” Fernando asked.

“I don’t remember the spell,” Jenson said, scratching his head.

“No, what is the matter about my N.E.W.Ts?” Fernando asked.

“Nothing,” Jenson lied.

Fernando continued to frown, confused, at him for a couple more seconds, before a grin crept onto his face and he figured out why Jenson was so worried.

“You are scared I am going to abandon the team, aren’t you?” Fernando said.

“No,” Jenson said, a little too quickly for Fernando to believe it was the truth. “Why would I be worried about that?”

“Are worried,” Fernando said, a triumphant grin on his face. “Do not worry, Jenson. I will not leave you in the lurch the first time I get a better offer.”

“You mean there’s a better offer than the Gryffindor team’s second best chaser?” Jenson said, realising Fernando was giving him a way out without even knowing it.

“I am not going anywhere, Jenson,” Fernando tried to reassure him, patting Jenson on the back. “Shall we try and see if we can remember this spell now?”

 

“Is there a magic photocopying machine thing?” Susie asked Claire at lunch.

“A what?” Claire asked.

“I’ve made leaflets,” Susie said, placing a piece of parchment in front of the Ravenclaw and sitting down opposite her. “Well, I made _a_ leaflet, but I need more and it took a long time so I’d rather just photocopy it.”

Claire looked down at the leaflet, deciding it was probably better to not ask what a photocopier was (something that photocopied things, she guessed, but that didn’t make any more sense).

“What’s… _was-uph_ and how do you pronounce it?” Claire asked. If this was another muggle word, Claire didn’t have any idea what it meant.

“It’s not _was-uph_ and it’s not pronounced any way,” Susie said, rolling her eyes, as if that were obvious. “It’s W.W.A.S.U.F.E. Wizards, witches, and squibs united for education.”

“Was-uph?” Claire said. That made a little more sense. Only a little.

“It’s the name of the campaign,” Susie said. “Is there a magic photocopier or not?”

“What’s a photocopier?” Claire asked.

“It’s a machine,” Susie said. “You put a thing in and copies of it come out.”

Claire stared at Susie. “Real copies.”

Susie nodded.

“And how long do they last?” she asked.

“Forever,” Susie said, a little confused. “Well, unless they’re ripped up or burnt or something.”

“We don’t have a magical copier,” Claire said, taking out her wand. “ _Geminio_ ,” she said, tapping her wand against the sheet of parchment and making it duplicate. “These’ll last until the end of the week. Then disappear.”

“Oh,” Susie said. Sometimes the magical world seemed a little behind the muggle one, but she wouldn’t chose to go back. “Thank you.”

“So there’s a meeting?” Claire said, looking down at the leaflet again. “Saturday?”

“Yup,” Susie said. “We need students to get behind the cause and then we’ll get the school governors to change their minds. Professor Schumacher is coming as well.”

“And Toto?” Claire asked, which made Susie go very red.

“I’m asking tomorrow,” Susie said. “Professor Schumacher said it’ll be ok for him to come in on Saturday. If he says yes.”

She was pretty sure Toto would say yes, but Susie didn’t really feel comfortable assuming something like that. She didn’t know if she would want to come into an entire school full of wizards and witches without being able to do magic. She’d been nervous enough when she first arrived, and she’d known for sure already that she’d belonged there.

“Well,” Claire said. “Looks like you’ve got this all sorted out.”

“Yep,” Susie said, her blush falling away a little when she grinned. She was sure this was going to work. She knew Claire was still not so certain, but it wouldn’t take long to convince her friend when she saw how many people showed up to the first meeting. “Where’s Valtteri?”

“Guess,” Claire said. She’d tried to pull the fourth year from the library but it was no use. She was beginning to get really worried about her friend. She didn’t think she saw Valtteri go more than fifteen minutes without studying and he needed to spend a little more time relaxing, but convincing him was impossible.

“Well, can you make sure he actually comes to this,” Susie said. “It’s important.”

“I know,” Claire said. “I’ll try.”

 

Jev couldn’t tell, but he was sure his plan with Sebastian was working. It was lunch time, and there had been no arguments at all, which Jev considered a success. Dan still hadn’t spoken much to Sebastian, which Jev didn’t really understand, after he’d forgiven Hanna so easily. The French boy had tried to get Dan to talk with him, but it was no use.

“We should go and do something altogether,” Hanna said. She hadn’t stopped grinning all day and now she was sitting on her hands to try to calm herself down.

“Like what?” Dan asked.

“I don’t know,” Hanna said with a small shrug, as if that part didn’t really matter. They’d pretty much exhausted all excitement they could get from exploring the castle now and Hanna wasn’t sure if there was anything more exciting to do in Hogwarts, but she was interested in finding out.

“We could go and have a wander around the Forbidden Forest,” Dan suggested.

“That sounds a little Forbidden,” Jev said.

“You scared?” Dan asked, grinning.

“No,” Jev said. “If you’re doing it, I will.”

“It sounds brilliant,” Hanna said. “When do you want to go?”

“Not tonight,” Sebastian said. He didn’t like the idea of wandering around somewhere he was pretty sure they weren’t supposed to be in the first place, but if Jev was going to go then he was going to as well. He needed to keep his friends close, even if it was just to stop Kimi moaning at him about making friends. But he couldn’t go tonight. Not with potions for Horner.

“Alright,” Hanna said. “Another time though. We are definitely doing it though.”

“For sure,” Sebastian said, grinning. He glanced over at Dan, disappointed but not surprised to see the Australian wasn’t smiling anymore. It was going to take a while, but Sebastian was determined to prove to Dan he was a better friend than this new Jev was.

 

Felipe stared at the History of Magic notes Rob had given him before the incident in the secret passageway, but none of it made any sense. He didn’t even recognise half the names on the scroll of parchment and could barely remember learning about the events they were supposed to link up to. It was hopeless. There was little chance of him passing Lauda’s stupid exam before he’d gotten rid of Rob. Now there was nothing.

He needed to go and tell Professor Lauda the truth. He _knew_ that. But he also knew he was going to get into a tonne of trouble if they found out he was lying and Bruno would _hate_ him and Rob would _hate_ him and there would be no going back to normal. He had to keep his mouth shut or this was just going to get worse and worse. He didn’t know _how_ to make this better but at least Rob hadn’t been kicked out of Hogwarts just yet, so he had some time to figure it out.

“Studying _again_.”

Felipe looked up and rolled his eyes when he saw Bruno heading towards him. The last thing he needed right now was a distraction. Quickly wiping his eyes on the back of his hand, Felipe turned back to his notes, hoping Bruno would get the message and leave him alone.

He didn’t, taking the chair opposite Felipe’s and spinning it around so he could sit down, resting his arms on the back of the chair and his chin on top of them.

“What has happened to my best friend?” Bruno said with a sigh.

“He needs to pass a fucking exam,” Felipe muttered, not looking up from his notes.

“He is going to die of exhaustion until he even gets to the exam,” Bruno said. “I spoke to Jenson a minute ago. He said we can go and practice tomorrow afternoon, if you want.”

“I don’t have time,” Felipe said.

“Sure you do,” Bruno said. “We have the afternoon off.”

“And I need to study.”

“What is wrong with you Felipe,” Bruno said, a little confused.

“What is _wrong_ with me?” Felipe cried. “I am an idiot. I cannot even pass my fucking exams to a good enough standard to get on the fucking Quidditch team and I am going to lose everything I’ve worked for because I have no idea what Josephina Flint had against a bloody telegraph.”

Felipe slumped his head against the desk, groaning a little at the pain it caused. He couldn’t do this. He knew this was why Rob wouldn’t go out with him. Because he was an idiot. If he had just studied before – maybe if he’d just gotten the forty per cent last year like Lauda wanted – the Ravenclaw would have considered it. Felipe should have realised that was what Rob was after, but it was too late for that now.

“If it helps I do not even know who Josephina Flint was,” Bruno said, gently.

Felipe groaned again. He didn’t need this right now.

“Let me study, Bruno,” he mumbled, not lifting his head away from the desk.

Bruno sighed. “Alright, but I am coming back in one hour, ok? You cannot spend all your time in here. It will make you ill.”

 

Sebastian came down into the dungeons just as a Ravenclaw was leaving. The older boy brushed past Sebastian, not stopping to apologise, and disappeared up the staircase to the rest of the castle. Sebastian watched him go, before making his way into the tiny potions room at the end of the corridor, where Professor Horner was waiting for him.

“Sit.”

The teacher didn’t even look up from the bottles he was filling with the disgusting looking polyjuice potion, but Sebastian sat anyway, taking a stool at the back of the classroom and watching the potions master. He didn’t know what he’d done wrong this time. He’d been extra careful to make sure he hadn’t been sloppy or silly with his potions, knowing how important they were to Professor Horner and his customers. Each one was as perfect as he could make them, as perfect as Professor Horner had liked them.

“Is… is there a problem?” Sebastian asked after fifteen minutes of sitting in silence. Horner hadn’t even looked at him, ticking things off of a check list before once he had finished filling the bottles.

“What kind of problem?” Horner asked, not looking up.

Sebastian shrugged. “With my potions?” Sebastian asked.

“No,” Horner said. “Why would you think that?”

“Because…” Sebastian began. “Nothing sir.”

His hands were shaking underneath the table, gripping onto his wand so tightly he thought he might snap it. There was definitely something wrong and he didn’t know what to expect from the potions teacher, but it couldn’t be good.

“There is no problem, Sebastian,” Horner said before finally turning to the student. Sebastian couldn’t read his face and still didn’t know what to expect. Had Bottas told someone about the books Sebastian had been looking at? It was the only thing the Slytherin could think of that would make his teacher angry. But, then, Sebastian couldn’t even tell if his teacher _was_ angry. “Are you ok?” Horner asked.

Sebastian nodded, biting his lip to stop himself crying. He’d _known_ Bottas would have told someone.

“I’m worried, Sebastian,” Horner said. “About how you’re coping.”

“How I’m… how I’m coping?” Sebastian asked, slowly, a little confused. Who had been saying what this time?

“Yes,” Horner said. “It is important you don’t fall behind in your other studies.”

“I’m not,” Sebastian said, quickly. And he wasn’t. Not really. This was probably just Hanna fussing over him. Or Dan and Jev trying to cause trouble.

“Alright,” Horner said. “But if this does get too much for you, you have to tell me, Sebastian.”

“I will,” Sebastian promised, but he didn’t think that was going to be the case.


	42. More Questions than Answers...

“Stop staring at him.”

“I’m not.”

“You are.”

“I’m _not_.”

Nico sighed and reached over Jenson’s plate to get the orange juice he had asked for five minutes ago, glancing again in the direction Jenson was staring in. Mark was still busy chatting away to Fernando, not noticing the other Gryffindor’s gaze.

“You have been staring at him for the last fifteen minutes,” Nico said. “You are supposed to be staring at Jessica, not Mark.”

“I’m not staring,” Jenson insisted, but he didn’t take his eyes away from the Ravenclaw. He still hadn’t figured out what was wrong with Mark, but he knew there was definitely _something_. None of this made any sense and he was beginning to get the feeling that Fernando was in trouble.

“If you don’t stop staring, he’s going to notice,” Nico said. He knew that wasn’t true. Mark only had eyes for Fernando. It was as if Fernando had given him some love potion or something to mimic Fernando’s affection. Actually…

 

“… And I just think it would be a really good idea for you to come with us,” Susie said, watching Valtteri. “Let Toto know he has a lot of support and he’ll be more likely to come to the castle. Valtteri? Are you listening?”

Susie tapped Valtteri’s bowl with her spoon, making the Finn jump. He blinked, slowly, trying to figure out what was going on. Susie just shook her head. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” Valtteri mumbled. There was too much going on at the moment and the last thing he needed was to spend the afternoon with Susie. He needed to study, to catch up on all the things Rob should have been covering.

“So you’re coming today?” Susie said.

“Do not have time for this, Susie,” Valtteri said. He wished he’d never agreed to go along with this stupid campaign thing, but he knew Susie would have never let the subject go if he hadn’t agreed.

“We need to show that we’re supporting was-umph,” Susie said.

“So you’re going to call it that?” Claire cut in, grinning.

Susie shrugged. “It’s catchy,” she admitted. She was pretty sure people would remember was-umph better than the real phrase. As long as they knew what the movement was for, it didn’t matter.

“I don’t think we need Valtteri to come,” Claire said, knowing how stressed the younger Ravenclaw was.

Valtteri didn’t know whether to thank her or not. He didn’t need people thinking he couldn’t cope with a few hours of fun with his friends, even if that was the truth. But he was not going to waste the afternoon either. Eventually, he decided against saying anything, turning back to his bowl of cereal.

 

Sebastian came in from his usual walk to find Hanna, Dan, and Jev already laughing and joking at the Hufflepuff table. Again. The day before hadn’t been so bad. It was mostly just being polite to the French boy and ignoring him whenever possible. That had seemed to make Hanna happy at least. It was Dan who needed more convincing, and Sebastian didn’t know if he could put up with more sharp comments from the Australian he had thought had been his friend last week.

“Hi guys,” Sebastian said, sitting beside Hanna again. “What are you talking about?”

“Quidditch,” Jev said.

“And how much Dan would suck at it,” Hanna added.

“Oh, I do not think you would be so bad,” Sebastian said, smiling at Dan and hoping to prompt a smile from the Australian, but there was nothing. “You would be no worse than me, that is for sure.”

Dan didn’t say anything, purposefully looking down at the bowl of cereal he had had no interest in until Sebastian had come over. Jev rolled his eyes, a little annoyed. Why couldn’t Dan _try_ when even Sebastian was?

“Do you know when the first flying lessons are?” Jev asked. He was pretty sure they hadn’t had any flying lessons yet, but he didn’t entirely trust his memory.

“I think Nico said they start next week at some point,” Sebastian said. He wasn’t sure when they started. They didn’t really have time in their time table for it, but he was sure they would figure that out.

“Next week we will see if you are a natural or not, Dan,” Jev said, putting his arm around the Australian and making Sebastian cringe a little.

“Do you not already have a broom?” Hanna asked, turning to Sebastian. It made sense to her, if Sebastian’s family were wizards and witches. Wasn’t that kind of essential?

Sebastian shook his head. “We live in a muggle street, so we can’t really have one.”

If he’s honest, he doesn’t really like the idea of flying. He’s got a feeling it’s going to be important if he’s going to be an auror, but that didn’t mean he was going to enjoy it. It was dangerous, no more dangerous than hexes and curses or anything, but still… He didn’t like it. There had to be a safer way of transporting people.

“That’s a shame,” Hanna said. “You would have been able to get a head start. Jev had a broom.”

“Of course he did,” Sebastian muttered, before remembering he and the French kid were supposed to be getting along. “What kind?”

“Not a very good one,” Jev admitted. “I was telling them about how it would spend more time trying to throw you off of it than anything else.”

Sebastian smiled weakly back when Jev grinned at him. He glanced over at Dan, hoping to see the Australian had relaxed a little but no. Sebastian didn’t understand it. He’d managed to forgive Hanna easily enough. Why couldn’t Dan forgive _him_?

 

Bruno was making his way up to Muggle Studies alone. He didn’t know where Felipe was and he knew he should try and find his friend because he was going to make himself ill if he didn’t stop studying non-stop, but he was growing tired of the abuse he got and thought that maybe Felipe would prefer to be alone. Maybe it was his way of coping with things.

For the first time in his three and a bit years, Bruno was going to be early to his lesson, but he couldn’t stand to sit in the Great Hall alone, in case Karun decided to come over and tell him lies again. Bruno knew he should apologise for snapping at Karun – after all, the Indian had warned Bruno that Rob was still in the castle – but he just couldn’t be bothered to get into another argument with him right now.

So up to Muggle Studies it was.

Bruno dumped his stuff at a desk in the middle of the room, resting his head on his bag to see if he could get a couple more moments sleep.

“Senna? You’re here a little early, aren’t you?”

Bruno sat up, watching Professor Hunt float down the centre of the classroom.

“How are things going for your friend?” the teacher asked.

“My friend?” Bruno asked, a little confused.

“The one you came to speak to me about,” Hunt prompted. “Horner says the potion should be finished by the end of the week, by the way.”

“Oh,” Bruno said. How could he have forgotten something like _that?_ Karun was going to need him when the full moon came but if the Slytherin hadn’t stopped calling his best friend a liar by then then Bruno wasn’t going to have a choice but to leave him to it. Karun had managed to get this far on his own. He’d be even more fine with the potion.

Professor Hunt “sat” in the chair in front of Bruno’s, facing the student.

“You know everything that is said in here, stays in here, don’t you Senna,” Hunt said, strangely serious.

Bruno nodded, a little confused.

“Right. Am I right in thinking your friend was the one with you when you came to visit me?” Hunt asked.

“I can’t say, sir,” Bruno said. Whether Karun was being a tit or not, Bruno had still promised he would keep Karun’s secret to himself. It wasn’t his place to go announcing what Karun was to people, no matter how much they could help.

“Of course,” Professor Hunt said, “leaning” on Bruno’s table. “But, if your friend, whoever they are, would like to speak to someone who has some idea what they’re going through, let them know they can come and speak to me, and nobody else needs to find out who they really are.”

“I’ll pass on the message,” Bruno said, even though he had no intention of speaking to Karun until the Slytherin apologised.

The muggle studies teacher smiled, before getting up again and busying himself with “lesson” preparation.

 

“Fernando?” Jenson said, slowly as he and his best friend walked to divination together. He didn’t like the thoughts his mind was coming up with, so he’d decided to just come out and ask, as simply as possible.

“Hmmm?” Fernando said. He glanced over at Jenson and, noticing the look on his friend’s face, rolled his eyes. “If this is about leaving school next year, you do not have to worry. Have already told you this.”

“No,” Jenson said. “It’s not about that. Not exactly.”

“What is the matter this time?” Fernando asked.

“You know love potions?” Jenson said.

“Love potions?” Fernando asked, confused. What would he want with one of them?

“Yeah,” Jenson said.

“Yes, I know love potions,” Fernando said slowly when his friend didn’t continue.

“Do you know how to… get one?”

“Why?” Fernando said, stopping at the top of the staircase to divination. “What do you need a love potion for?”

“It’s not for me,” Jenson said, quickly, not that he could come up with anybody else who might want to potion. “Do you know how to get one or not?”

“Of course not,” Fernando said. “Why do you need one?”

“It’s nothing,” Jenson said, quickly, hoping his friend would drop the subject now. He was pretty sure Fernando hadn’t slipped Mark a love potion or something. So it had to be something else that was wrong with the Australian… “Bruno’s asked if he and Felipe can go practice this afternoon. Do you want to go with them?”

Fernando noticed the change of subject, but decided not to comment on it.

“Sure,” he said. “More practice the better, I guess.”

Jenson grinned and started babbling about quidditch, knowing the Spaniard wouldn’t be able to resist the conversation. Fernando nodded along, grinning back, but he was making a mental note to find out what the love potion thing was about…


	43. Just another Wednesday afternoon...

Rob knew he should eat something. His stomach sounded something like a dying whale and he _knew_ he should eat something. He had toast left over from the breakfast he hadn’t touched that would still be edible. And fruit. He wasn’t being treated badly, no matter what most of the school must have thought about him. But he didn’t want to touch it. He’d barely eaten two bites of food since he’d been dumped in the solitary confinement room, which was probably why his stomach sounded the way it did, but he didn’t think he’d be able to keep much more inside him.

There were a lot of things Rob knew he should be doing. He should be using the time to study, or catch up on the sleep he hadn’t managed to get at all since he’d been here, but he couldn’t bring himself to do much of that either. He couldn’t bring himself to do much else other than wallow in self pity, which disgusted him a little but, then, didn’t he disgust everyone?

The Ravenclaw was still curled up on his bed when there was a knock at the door. He sat up slowly, not expecting any visitors, and called for whoever it was to come in. His head of house smiled at him as he opened the door, sitting on the bed beside Rob.

“How are you feeling?” Professor Williams asked.

“Like shit,” Rob muttered. He knew he should be more respectful to the professor, but he didn’t care anymore. His head of house just laughed.

“I imagine so,” he said, patting Rob’s arm gently. “Don’t worry. This will all be over soon.”

“The potion’s ready?” Rob asked, looking up at Professor Williams.

The teacher nodded. “It’s ready. We’ll find Massa this afternoon and take the two of you up to Professor Lauda’s office.”

“Does he have to be there?” Rob asked. He didn’t think he ever wanted to see Felipe again, in case he did something he regretted. And what if it really was true and Rob had been lying to himself and he didn’t want to have to face the Gryffindor knowing what he’d done and…

“I think it’s for the best,” Professor Williams said. “Don’t worry about it, Rob. I trust you.”

Rob felt his head of house but an arm over his shoulder and he _knew_ it was supposed to be comforting but it felt like the weight of the world had been placed on his back and he didn’t think he had the strength to carry it. Not today at least.

“You’re going to have to eat something,” Professor Williams said, eyeing the practically untouched breakfast on the table. “The truth serum will cause havoc with your immune system if you take it on an empty stomach.”

“I can’t eat it, sir,” Rob said, quietly. “I’ll be sick.”

“Well, I can’t let you take the truth serum if you haven’t eaten anything,” Professor Williams said. “It goes against my duty of care.”

“But I have to take it, sir,” Rob said, quickly. “I have to get this all sorted out, sir, please.”

He didn’t think he could do another day in here. It was driving him insane and he just wanted it to be all over.

Professor Williams smiled. “We’ll figure something out.”

 

Susie was even more nervous and excited as she climbed into the carriage than she had been on her first visit to Hogsmeade. There had been no way of convincing Valtteri to come with them, so Claire and Susie were alone in the carriage. Unsurprisingly, the number of students heading away from the castle had gone down since the week before, the excitement having dropped for a lot of people after seeing that the village wasn’t all that interesting, and as more of the older students started to prioritise studying.

“He’ll want to come though, won’t he?” Susie said, sitting on her hands to try to stop them shaking so much. She looked out of the little windows as the countryside whizzed past, then turned to Claire.

The older girl shrugged. “I don’t see why not. He seemed to like the idea before.”

Claire couldn’t see why anybody wouldn’t come to Hogwarts.

Susie had already been getting a few supporters at the castle coming to talk to her over dinner the night before. It had surprised Claire a little to see just _how many_ supporters the Hufflepuff had gotten in such a short amount of time. Something was clearly working. Susie had just grinned at her the night before, pulling an “I told you so” look which had just made Claire laugh and roll her eyes. The third year wasn’t looking so cocky now.

“It’ll be fine,” Claire said. “What’s the worst that can happen?”

“Well, there is the possibility that the universe might explode,” Susie mumbled.

What was the worst that could happen? Only morbid embarrassment that would probably result in having to throw herself off of the top of the astronomy tower. And then Toto would feel really guilty about what he’d done, and the poor boy would have to spend the rest of his life wondering “what if” and Susie would see this from the afterlife some how and feel even _more_ guilty and- yeah, exploding universe didn’t seem so bad.

 

Jenson and Fernando were heading through the portrait that lead to the Gryffindor common room as Bruno was heading out of it. Fernando still hadn’t forgotten about Jenson’s interest in the love potion and he was hoping to ask the Brit about it on their way down to the Quidditch pitch, if Bruno and Felipe didn’t distract him first. Were there problems between him and Nico? Or was this part of the plan for dealing with Professor Rosberg? Not that Fernando could figure out _how_ it could be part of the plan for dealing with Professor Rosberg, but Nico was a Slytherin. Fernando was sure Nico would figure something out.

“Are you still going to the quidditch pitch?” Jenson asked, spinning around to speak to Bruno as he passed him. The beater didn’t seem to be carrying any Quidditch things with him.

“Yeah, just going to get Felipe,” Bruno said with a smile Fernando didn’t trust.

Jenson shrugged and went to carry on into the common room to collect his quidditch things.

Fernando didn’t.

“Where is he?” Fernando asked, already forgetting about the love potion at the first possibility of trouble.

“Library, I think,” Bruno said, with a sigh. He didn’t like it. He was pretty sure Felipe should go and speak to someone, after everything he’d been through. It had to be because of that that he was acting so strangely. Bruno just wanted to get this all cleared up as soon as possible so he could get his friend back.

“What’s he doing?” Fernando asked, making to follow Bruno. He didn’t trust them. It had been too long since their last incident.

“Studying I guess,” Bruno said, shuddering at the thought of it. He should go to speak to Professor Lauda about it, but the care for magical creatures teacher would probably take it to be a good thing that Felipe was studying so much.

“Really?”

“You can come with me if you don’t believe me,” Bruno said. He didn’t have time for this. He needed to go and collect his friend.

“No, he’ll be fine,” Jenson said, pulling Fernando towards the portrait. “We’ll see you on the pitch.”

 

Felipe knew the librarian had been watching him from the moment he had marched into the library and dumped his books onto what had become his usual desk. He knew Bruno would be coming after him. He’d had to practically run from his last lesson to get away from his friend to come here, knowing Bruno wouldn’t let him set foot in the library if he could get hold of him. Maybe Bruno would get the hint and leave him alone, but he doubted it.

He’s no idea what he’s doing now. Felipe had thought it would be a good idea to make himself a chart of what he needed to learn, like Mark had done for Fernando last year and like Rob had _tried_ to make him do as well, but all he could think was how much easier this all would be if Rob were still here and how he has no idea what he’s doing without him.

“Thought you would be here.”

Was it really too much to ask?

“Piss off, Bruno,” Felipe muttered, not looking up from the blank piece of parchment he was supposed to be writing this chart on. Bruno didn’t even bother sitting down, swiping the parchment away from Felipe with his wand and sending his things flying across the library. “What was that for?” Felipe cried, ignoring the glare he was getting from the librarian.

“We have quidditch practice,” Bruno said.

“Have told you, I do not have time for this,” Felipe said. “Want me to pass that exam, don’t you?”

“Pass it or not, you’ll be no use to the team if you do not practice,” Bruno said, kindly helping Felipe put his things back into his bag. “Come on, let’s get our stuff and go. Fernando and Jenson are already going to be there.”

“I do not have time, Bruno,” Felipe snapped, snatching his bag away from his friend and dumping it back onto the table he had been working on.

The librarian coughed loudly and glared at them. Felipe shook his head and sat down, hoping Bruno would get the message.

“We are going, Felipe,” he said instead.

“Strange that I find you two here and not pulling a trick.”

Bruno spun around, surprised to see Professor Lauda watching them.

“We were just leaving sir,” he said. “Quidditch practice.”

“Go on then, Senna,” Lauda said. “Massa, Professor Williams and I would like to have a discussion with you.”

“Is this about Smedley?” Bruno asked.

“Yes,” Lauda said. “And it is nothing that concerns you, Senna. You said you had somewhere to be?”

“I want to be there,” Bruno said. “To support him.”

Felipe buried his head in his arms, willing the ground to swallow him up again.

“Fine,” Lauda said, as if it didn’t really matter. “Massa? Come on, we don’t have all day.”


	44. No place for lies

Rob sat in Professor Lauda’s office with his head of house sat beside him. Lauda hadn’t seemed very pleased at all to have Rob in his office, but he hadn’t argued. He wanted to get this sorted out once and for all, the same as Rob did.

The vial of truth serum sat on Lauda’s desk, beside a little tea set. Rob didn’t know what that was about, but he hadn’t questioned it. He hadn’t said anything at all. He’d sat in silence, trying to find something to focus his attention on whilst he waited for the care for magical creatures teacher to bring Felipe to the office.

 

“What is this for?” Bruno asked as he and Felipe followed Professor Lauda through the castle. “Have you gotten rid of that pervert yet?”

“Bruno,” Felipe mumbled, his head sinking further and further whilst Bruno clasped an arm around his friend in a motion that was supposed to be supportive but just made Felipe feel about three inches tall.

“Not yet, no,” Professor Lauda said. “And if you are not going to shut up, Senna, you can leave.”

Bruno shot a look at the back of the professor’s head, but didn’t say anything else. He didn’t want to risk leaving Felipe on his own.

Professor Lauda opened the door to his office, stepping aside to let the students in.

Rob’s head shot up.

“What’s he doing here?” Bruno said, standing in the doorway and not letting Felipe go in. It was only then that Felipe looked up.

Rob looked a state. Felipe didn’t know if he’d imagined it, but he was sure the sixth year looked thinner, and paler. No, he was _sure_ he was imagining it, but Rob definitely didn’t look well. Felipe could see the tears in his eyes and the stains already shed ones had left down his cheeks. He didn’t look the normal controlled scruffy, the kind of scruffy that made Felipe smile without even trying. He looked lost, broken. And Felipe knew that was his fault.

“Rob?”

Rob didn’t say anything, looking away before he did something stupid. His hands were curled into fists at his side and no matter how hard he tried to unclench them they wouldn’t budge.

“This is sick,” Bruno said. “Felipe has already gone through enough.”

“Senna,” Lauda warned again, poking the boys forward and into the room. A flick of his wand brought another chair to stand beside the one he already had out for Felipe.

Bruno went through the process of moving the chairs over from Rob’s a little, making Lauda roll his eyes, but the teacher left him to it.

“Would you like some tea, Massa?” he asked. “Calm your nerves.”

The tea was in Felipe’s hands before he had even sat down, and the Gryffindor just sipped at it, glad to have something to focus on that wasn’t staring back at him.

“What is this about?” Bruno asked. He knew Professor Lauda wasn’t always on their side, but he thought the teacher would draw the line before doing something like this. Their head of house had to believe Felipe, didn’t he?

“A very serious accusation has been made,” Lauda explained, sitting down behind his desk. “And we must investigate it. Now, I have here some truth serum for Mister Smedley to take so we can all hear what really happened.”

Rob glanced over at Felipe, a little relieved to see the look of shock on his face. It wasn’t true. It couldn’t be true.

He’d insisted on taking the serum. He didn’t care if it made him ill, he just wanted to get this all cleaned up and get his name cleared.

“You don’t believe him?” Bruno asked.

“This is the safest way to ensure justice is done,” Professor Williams said before Lauda could answer. He took the vial from the desk, pulling the stopper and handing it to Rob.

Rob paused for a moment, looking down at the potion, before downing it.

Felipe couldn’t look at Rob. He knew the Ravenclaw would find a way out of this mess, but now it was his turn to panic. Rob was going to tell them all it was all lies and he was just going to get into trouble. Maybe the older boy would take sympathy on him. Maybe he would figure out a way so that they could both get out of this. He doubted it, a lot, but there was a chance, wasn’t there?

Felipe just stared at his tea, swallowing another mouthful and hoping it would calm him down a little, give him a chance to come up with a way out of this.

“Right then,” Professor Lauda said, sitting back behind his desk. “Would you please tell us what happened Saturday evening?”

Rob gulped. He knew he had nothing to worry about. He had the truth serum and Professor Lauda was going to have to believe him. But he was still a little nervous.

“I’d been tutoring Felipe in the day,” Rob said. “He was stressed out by this exam at Christmas and I thought I might be getting through. Getting him to study, you know. We went to dinner together and about half way through he dragged me up. I thought he might be pulling some prank but he was going on and on and he wasn’t going to leave it be, so I went with him. He took us down one of those secret passageways and stopped and told me to close my eyes. I did. And he kissed me. As soon as I realised what he was doing I pushed him away. I tried to explain that I didn’t like him like that and he got upset and ran off. I didn’t see him again until breakfast the day after. I wanted to get things sorted out but he wouldn’t talk to me. And that’s all that happened, sir.”

“No, that’s exactly what happened!” Felipe cried, jumping up and spilling hot tea everywhere. Everyone was staring at him again, and it took him a couple of seconds to realise what he had said. “I mean… I mean… that is the truth and I made it… all… up?”

The words stumbled out of his mouth and he had no way of controlling them. He stared at Professor Lauda, shaking his head in disbelief. Professor Williams had a small, triumphant smile on his face and Rob just looked relieved.

“What’s wrong with me?” Felipe asked, quietly.

“Well, you try to ruin you “friends” lives for a joke. I suppose that’s one thing,” Rob muttered.

“Truth serum,” Professor Lauda explained. “Mister Smedley has made himself sick worrying over the past few days. Understandably, it seems. He is in no fit state to take the truth serum, but insisted on doing it anyway. Professor Williams and I came up with a better solution.”

The professor flicked his wand at the tea that was attempting to stain his office carpet, cleaning the mess.

Felipe gulped, tears in his eyes again.

He glanced over at Rob, who was now tapping his foot impatiently, waiting to get this all finished.

“I’m sorry.”

“You’re not though,” Rob muttered. “You would have let them send me away. You’re just sorry you got caught.”

“I never meant for any of this to happen,” Felipe said. “I don’t… I don’t know. I didn’t mean to tell Bruno and then I didn’t want him to-.”

Felipe turned around to face Bruno, realising he had no idea how his friend had reacted to the truth. Bruno was still staring at him in disbelief. Karun was right. He never should have believed him and he’d been an idiot not to see he was lying.

“The two of you have gone too far this time,” Lauda said.

“ _I_ was never in on this,” Bruno said. He needed to defend himself, because there was no way he could rely on Felipe to do it for him. “He lied to me as well.”

“Is true,” Felipe said, quietly. “Told him Rob had done all these things to me. Do not know _why_. Was just angry and upset and did not want to look like an idiot. Tried to stop Bruno from telling everyone, but he didn’t.”

“I’m so sorry Rob,” Bruno said. “I should have just kept my mouth shut.”

“It’s ok,” Rob said, quietly.

“Well then,” Professor Lauda said. “I shall reinstate Mister Bottas’ points.”

“Valtteri?” Rob asked, suddenly interested again.

“He was defending you,” Felipe said. “Trying to make me tell the truth.”

Rob couldn’t stop himself smiling. Valtteri had believed him. Valtteri had been on his side all along.

“And I guess you will not have to worry about the Christmas exam any longer, Massa,” Professor Lauda continued.

“What?”

“Do you really think I can allow you on our Quidditch team after all of this,” Professor Lauda said.

“No, please,” Felipe said, standing again. He knew he didn’t deserve it, but he could not get kicked off of the team. “Please, sir. Quidditch is the only thing I have.”

“Then it is a suitable punishment,” Professor Lauda said.

“Please sir,” Felipe said again, the tears in his eyes beginning to roll down his face. This wasn’t… well, it was fair. It was perfectly fair. He knew that. “I never meant for this to happen.”

“You do realise Mister Smedley could have been sent to prison, if Professor Williams had not insisted on using the truth serum,” Professor Lauda said. “You very almost ruined his life.”

“And I’m not ruining his,” Rob said. Everyone in the room turned to him and Rob felt himself go a couple of shades redder. “Don’t ban him from Quidditch, Professor Lauda. Please.”

“Is there something wrong, Mister Smedley?” Lauda asked.

“No, I just… I don’t think it’s the right punishment,” Rob said, slowly. “He’s not going to study if he doesn’t have Quidditch.”

“And you care if he studies or not because…”

Rob glanced over at Felipe, but looked away just as quickly. He shrugged. “I just think it’s a waste.”

Professor Lauda was quiet for a moment, thinking it over, then turned to Professor Williams. “It is down to you.”

“Detention, for the rest of the term,” Professor Williams said. “And longer if Professor Lauda sees necessary.”

Felipe looked between Professor Williams and Professor Lauda, not trusting himself to speak. He wiped his eyes on the back of his robes, swallowing a couple of times to try to calm himself down.

“I… I am still on the team?” he asked.

“For now,” Professor Lauda said. “You can go now.”

Felipe stood, awkwardly, not sure if he should really leave or not.

“And me, professor?” Bruno asked.

“You really had no part in this?” Professor Lauda asked.

“No sir.”

“Then you can go too.”

Bruno stood and left quickly, ignoring Felipe as he brushed past him. Felipe hurried out after him, deciding it was better to not say anything more, in case anybody changed their mind.

“I’m really sorry, Bruno,” he said, once Bruno had closed the door to Professor Lauda’s office.

“I do not want to hear it,” Bruno said, marching off. He needed to find Karun. He needed to apologise and just hope the Slytherin understood. He wouldn’t be surprised if Karun didn’t forgive him. He just kept cocking things up and he didn’t think he deserved _another_ chance.

“Please,” Felipe said, hurrying after his friend. “I didn’t mean to say what I said. It just came out. I couldn’t stop myself.”

“You had every chance to say you were lying,” Bruno said, stopping and shaking his so called friend’s hand off of his arm. “But you didn’t. You let me believe it and you nearly got Rob kicked out of the school. Leave me alone.”

“Bruno please.”

“I need to apologise to Karun,” Bruno said.

“What… what for?”

“For believing you over him,” Bruno cried, shaking Felipe away again when he tried to hold his arm. “So not only have you almost ruined Rob’s life, but you might have ruined my relationship. Well done, Felipe.”

“You and Karun…”

“Just piss off Felipe,” Bruno said again, leaving his friend standing in the corridor.

 

“Well then,” Professor Lauda said after Felipe and Bruno had left the room. “It looks like I owe you an apology, Mr Smedley. I’m sorry I did not treat the situation unbiasedly.”

“It’s… thank you,” Rob said, quietly. He was just glad it was all over now. He could put all this behind him and get on with his life.

“I think you should go down to the kitchen and get yourself something to eat,” Professor Williams said. “You’ll drop dead if you don’t eat soon.”

“Thank you sir,” Rob said, standing. He wasn’t going to the kitchens. He needed to find Valtteri and let him know that everything was going to be ok.

Nodding thank you and goodbye to the two teachers, Rob hurried out of the office.

“Rob!”

Rob shuddered at the sound of his voice. He’d thought he’d given the Gryffindor enough time to leave, but apparently not.

Felipe hurried after Rob when he didn’t stop.

“Thank you,” Felipe said, quietly. “For standing up for me.”

“I didn’t stand up for you,” Rob snapped, not turning to look at the younger boy.

“But… but you stopped them banning me from Quidditch,” Felipe said. He didn’t understand.

“I didn’t do that for you,” Rob said.

“Then… why do you do it?” Felipe asked. He _really_ didn’t understand.

“I want to give you a chance,” Rob said. He stopped, Felipe almost walking into him he stopped so suddenly, and leaned over so he was the same height as the Gryffindor. “I want to give you a chance to ruin your own life like you tried to do mine,” he sneered. “I want to see you send yourself crazy stressing out over that exam at Christmas and I want to see you fail it. I don’t want you to be able to say you were kicked off of the team because you “made a mistake”. I want you to have to admit you were kicked off of that team because you are a failure. I want you off of that team, but I want it to be your own doing.”

Felipe gulped, trying desperately to stop himself crying. Rob just shook his head, standing again and carrying on in the direction he had been heading in.

“So… so will you still tutor me?” Felipe asked.

“WILL I STILL TUTOR YOU?” Rob yelled, spinning back around to face Felipe. “I never want to see you ever again. If you dropped dead tomorrow, I wouldn’t give a flying fuck. You are _sick_ , Felipe. I cared about you, and you almost got me sent to fucking prison. No I will not tutor you. I want nothing to do with you.”


	45. And in the real world...

Honeydukes was packed again when Claire and Susie arrived. Susie sighed, annoyed, and left Claire looking at sweets as she dived into the crowd of students to try to find Toto. It was Toto who found her though.

“Did not think I was going to see you in here again,” he said. “Miss Too Cool For Honeydukes.”

“My name’s Susie,” Susie said again, but she couldn’t help but smile. “Are you working?”

“Of course I am,” Toto said. “It is the busiest day of the week, and we cannot let greedy witches and wizards sneak out without paying.”

He led Susie through the crowd to the door, leaning against it to watch Hogwarts students wander in and out of the shop. Susie stood awkwardly beside him, not sure how to bring up the subject casually.

“So…” she said, slowly. It seemed wrong to just jump to the point. “How are you?”

“Pretty good,” Toto said with a shrug. “I’ve been working, studying, not much else.” He forced a smile, not looking at Susie to see if it was working.

Susie looked up at him, curiously.

“What do you study?” she asked.

“Same as you,” Toto said. “Potions, care for magical creatures, history of magic… Difference is I learn from a text book. And trial and error.”

He grimaced, then nodded at one of the older students who were making their way out of the shop. Obviously a regular.

“So you study the same as us?” Susie said.

“Anything that doesn’t use a wand,” Toto said. “My dad teaches me what he can. Your friend Valtteri visits in the summer. We study together.”

He shrugged as if it were nothing.

“But you would still come to Hogwarts,” Susie said. “If you were given the choice?”

“Of course,” Toto said. It wasn’t really much of a competition.

“We’re having a meeting, this Saturday,” Susie said. “To try to get some support for was-umph.”

“Was what?”

“Was-umph,” Susie said. “Wizards, witches, and squibs united for education.”

“Wouldn’t that be was-uph?” Toto said.

“ _Anyway_ ,” Susie said. She didn’t want to get caught up on the name. “We’re having a meeting to try to get some support. And I was wondering if you wanted to come. Only if you wanted to, of course. I’d get if you didn’t.”

“You want me to come to Hogwarts?” Toto said, unable to keep the shock from his voice.

Susie nodded. “Only if you wanted to. I just thought it might be… nice.”

“I’m not allowed to go to Hogwarts,” Toto said, shaking his head as he held the door open for a boy with his arms full of paper bags of sweets. “I thought that was what this was about.”

“Yeah,” Susie said. She didn’t think she’d explained this very well, but Toto didn’t look totally mortified by the idea, so it couldn’t be _that_ bad. “But I asked my head of house, and he said it would be alright for you to come in for the meeting.”

She gave Toto what she hoped was her most persuasive smile. It wasn’t the end of the world if he didn’t come to their meeting, but Susie was sure it would help their cause, at least a little.

“How am I getting there?” Toto asked. It looked like he was _really_ considering this, making Susie smile even more.

“I think Professor Schumacher is going to send a carriage,” Susie said. “And it’ll bring you up to the castle.”

“Alright then.”

“You’ll come!” Susie said, beaming.

Toto grinned at her. “I’ll come.”

 

“How long do we wait for them, do you think?” Jenson asked.

“They’re up to something,” Fernando said, suspiciously. They were waiting in the changing rooms for the two beaters to join them, but it didn’t look like anybody else was going to be joining their extra practice session. It was probably a trick, Fernando thought, to get him out of the castle whilst they pulled some other stupid prank.

“Well, if they are up to something, one of the other prefects will deal with it,” Jenson said. “Come on, just leave them.”

Fernando didn’t like it, he didn’t like a lot of things that were going on at the moment.

Alone, this was the perfect time to ask Jenson about the love potion again. He hadn’t really had much of a chance to think about _why_ exactly Jenson would want with a love potion, but it was another issue that needed addressing. He’d thought his friend would be able to speak to him about any problems he might have been facing, especially now Fernando knew about his relationship with Nico.

Jenson carried his broom over his shoulder as he led Fernando out of the changing room and onto the pitch. He had the quaffle under his other arm, nothing else needed if the beaters weren’t going to show up.

Fernando followed a couple of steps behind, trying to come up with a way of bringing the love potion up in conversation.

“What do you want to do?” Jenson said. He hadn’t really planned anything, and he couldn’t think of many constructive things they could do when it was just the two of them.

“A game of catch?” Fernando said. “That should be fun.”

“Are you five?” Jenson said, laughing. He swung his broom round and between his legs. Jenson pushed off of the ground, smirking. Fernando shook his head, laughing at his friend, then followed him.

“You come up with something better,” Fernando said.

“I’ve got the ball,” Jenson said, spinning round to face the Spaniard. “You come and get it off of me.”

Fernando rolled his eyes, but nodded, going along with the game. He couldn’t think there would be much of a chance to talk whilst they were in the air. Maybe the game would give him a chance to come up with something to say to Jenson when they went back to the changing room.

 

Valtteri was in his dorm room. He knew he should be studying. That was what Wednesday afternoons were for, after all, and he was already behind in his studies. But he just… He was too tired. He felt as if he was going to collapse and, last year, he’d been able to work through that. But that had been during the exam season, not the first term.

Maybe Professor Williams was right and he’d bitten off more than he could chew. He hated to admit it, because he’d been so sure he was ready for this at the start of the year. Maybe he would have been able to do it, if it weren’t for this stupid Squibs thing Susie had gotten him involved him and everything happening with Rob. If he’d just focused on his studies like he’s promised himself, he wouldn’t be in any of this mess.

He looked down at the time turner that he’d taken from his pocket, watching the sand tip from one part of the hour glass to the other. At least Sebastian and his friends seemed to have forgotten about the tutoring he’d promised them. He was still worried about the young German, and knew he should probably tell someone about him, but he had his own problems to deal with for now. Sebastian would have his own friends to help him…

“Lazing about? That’s not like you.”

Valtteri jumped up, smacking his head off of the post of his bed and having to lean against the wall when black dots appeared in front of his eyes. Rob rushed over to help him, apologising whilst Valtteri tried to stop the throbbing in his head.

“What happened?” Valtteri asked.

“Felipe told the truth,” Rob said. “Well, they gave him truth serum. It’s ok. I’m staying here.”

“You are?” Valtteri asked, grinning.

Rob nodded. “Everything’s sorted out. So we can go back to normal now. Yeah?”

He took hold of Valtteri’s hand, laughing when the younger student’s cheeks started to go red.

“Professor Lauda said you stood up for me,” he said, quietly. He’d been so scared Valtteri had believed Felipe. He trusted Valtteri, and knew the Finn was clever, but if they’d managed to convince Professor Lauda, Rob couldn’t be sure Valtteri hadn’t brought it all too. He didn’t know what he would have done if he’d come up here only for his boyfriend to be calling him… calling him something he didn’t even want to think about anymore.

“Yeah,” Valtteri said, his blush spreading further down his cheeks. “Of course I did.”

“Thank you,” Rob said, squeezing Valtteri’s hand gently. “It means a lot.”

“Why wouldn’t I believe you?” Valtteri asked, quietly. He could never imagine Rob doing what Felipe had said he had done. There was no way that could happen and there was no way Valtteri could have believed it had. Not without being a completely and utter moron. He didn’t understand how anybody could believe the trouble maker over Rob.

“Never mind,” Rob said. “It’s over now. Come on. I’m starving.”

 

There were months before their first quidditch match and Fernando knew the team would need a lot of work before they were ready for the first game, but he already couldn’t wait to get started. There really wasn’t a whole lot just the two of them could do, but Fernando was still grinning when they touched back down on the pitch, Jenson mirroring the look.

“What do you think?” he asked as he followed Jenson into the changing rooms. “Katherine going to be able to keep up?”

The other chaser was only in her third year at Hogwarts, and this would be her second year on the team – her first full year after the disaster that was the beginning of the last season. She was good, but Jenson and Fernando liked to think of themselves as being on another level.

“I think with some practice she should be alright,” Jenson said, grinning back at his best friend.

The love potion, for the moment, had been completely forgotten about.

“I think we’ve actually got half a chance this year, you know?” Jenson said.

“What, with your amazing captain skills,” Fernando said as they reached the changing rooms. Both boys propped their brooms against the wall and started to change out of their Quidditch robes.

“Well, _obviously_ ,” Jenson said. “But this year we don’t have half a shitty team. Or a biased ref working against us.”

He nudged Fernando in the arm, making the Spaniard blush a little. It had been Fernando who had eventually outed Professor Dennis, the old Quidditch teacher and referee, at the end of their third year. Dennis had been fixing the matches for his friends to bet on, and got into quite a bit of trouble for doing so…

“Yeah,” Jenson said. “This year is our year.”


	46. Sorting things out at dinner

Rob knew everyone was staring at him as the Great Hall began to fill up at dinner. He dropped his head as low as it could go without actually sitting in his plate, trying to stay unnoticed, but it didn’t work.

“It’s fine,” Valtteri kept saying, rubbing his back in the hope that it might help. Rob was shaking, and nothing he did seemed to help.

Professor Williams had been right. They’d all believed him.

“Toto said he’d come!” Susie said, cheerfully, as she sat down on Valtteri’s other side. “So that’s Toto, you, Claire. I’ve had a couple of dozen interested students and- oh.”

Susie made no effort to keep the surprise from her voice, even if it was just one syllable.

“It’s ok,” Valtteri said. “Everything got sorted out.”

He knew how important it was for Susie to believe them. If she didn’t, then there was no way Valtteri was going to be able to convince Rob that everything was going to be ok.

“Alright…” Susie said, slowly, and Rob knew that wasn’t enough.

“Felipe Massa is a liar,” he spat, not looking at Susie. “He’s a liar and he’s sick in the head.”

“Is ok,” Valtteri said, gently, still rubbing Rob’s back. “Is going to be ok.”

“It’s not,” Rob said. “It’s not. He’s ruined everything and there’s nothing I can do to-.”

“Rob,” Claire said, sitting down opposite him. “It’s going to be ok. Calm down.”

Rob glanced up at her, and Claire smiled gently, hoping that might settle him a little.

“Not going to lie, things are going to be pretty shit for a couple of weeks,” Claire said. “But we’re going to get you through them.”

Rob just shook his head. It wasn’t going to be a couple of weeks. This was going to go on and on and he could deny it all he wanted to, but people weren’t going to believe him.

“Rob, we’re going to be here for you,” Claire said. “Me, Valtteri, Susie.”

The smile on her face did nothing to make Rob feel any better though. He sunk his head further, wishing he could melt into the plate.

 

Bruno hadn’t been able to find Karun before dinner. He hadn’t really known where to look, and guessed the Slytherin was hanging out in their common room. He just needed to apologise and hope that was going to be enough. He wouldn’t have been surprised if it wasn’t enough, though. If it were the other way around, he didn’t think he would have forgiven Karun. Not after everything he had done so far…

Thankfully, he managed to find the Indian sat at the Slytherin table, talking to Nico and Pastor. Bruno gave a small wave as he came over. Karun glanced over him, then turned back to his conversation, making Bruno’s heart sink a little. He sat opposite Karun, waiting for his boyfriend to finish his conversation before starting, but Karun just continued to keep changing the subject and keep the conversation going. Nico and Pastor fell silent, knowing what Bruno was waiting for, but Karun seemed determined to ignore him.

“Er, Karun,” Nico said, nodding over to Bruno on the other side of the table. He knew Karun had noticed his friend, but he wasn’t going to sit back and keep the Gryffindor waiting.

“Oh,” Karun said, pretending he hadn’t noticed Bruno. “Everything ok?”

“I wanted to apologise,” Bruno said, quietly. “Again.”

“Again?” Karun asked, surprised. “What have you done this time?”

“You were right,” Bruno mumbled. “About Felipe.”

He still couldn’t believe Felipe had life to him. To _him_. They were best friends. They’d done everything together since they’d both been put on the team. Bruno was the one who had sat with him and comforted him when he was trying to work out how he felt for Rob, and now he’d gone and roped him into some plot to destroy the poor boy’s life.

“What?” Karun asked, a little confused.

“He lied,” Bruno said. “You were right, I shouldn’t have believed him.”

“He _lied_ ,” Nico hissed. He’d heard the commotion a few days before. _Everybody_ had.

Bruno nodded, hanging his head a little in shame. He couldn’t believe he’d been so stupid…

“I was not annoyed you believed him,” Karun said. “I’m annoyed you jumped to conclusions.”

“I know,” Bruno said, quickly, looking up. He made to take Karun’s hand from across the table but the Slytherin pulled away. “I know and I’m an idiot and I’m sorry.”

Karun just shook his head. He looked past Bruno to where Rob was sat with a small group of his own friends at the Ravenclaw table. He should probably go and say something, though he had no idea what.

“Please Karun,” Bruno said,

“Please what?” Karun asked. _He_ wasn’t the one Bruno should have been apologising to. It was Rob who was going to have to live with this, not him.

“Say something,” Bruno said. He hadn’t really known what to expect from Karun, but he’d been hoping for _something._ Something he could work with.

“What do you want me to say?” Karun asked.

“I don’t know,” Bruno admitted. “What are you thinking?”

“That you’re apologising to the wrong person,” Karun said.

Bruno’s mouth fell open a little and he spun around to look over at Rob. He was sure the Ravenclaw wouldn’t want to speak to him, and Bruno wouldn’t blame him at all for that. He’d kind of been hoping Karun would help him figure out what to say to him as well, because all he could think of was “sorry” and he knew that wasn’t going to be good enough, but he didn’t think Karun was going to be much help today.

“I think I need to apologise to both of you,” Bruno admitted as he turned back to Karun. “I thought you might be a little easier.”

Karun rolled his eyes. “Is there anything else?”

“I’m sorry,” Bruno tried again. He knew this wasn’t going to be easy, but Karun wasn’t doing anything to make it any easier.

“You said,” Karun said, unhelpfully.

Bruno huffed. He really shouldn’t give up, but there was nothing else he could say. He got up to go back to his own house’s table, trying to come up with a better way to apologise.

Karun just shook his head, returning his attention to his dinner.

Nico and Pastor exchanged surprised expressions, but said nothing.

 

Being civil with Jev was exhausting, and Sebastian half wanted to go and sit by himself as he followed his friends into the Great Hall at dinner, but he got the feeling Jev might take that as a win, and he was not going to let him win. He sat beside Hanna at the Hufflepuff table, hoping to eat as quickly as possible so he could go back to his dormitory and sleep.

Somehow, Jev was still enthusiastic, happily contributing to the conversation they were supposed to be having, but Sebastian could barely keep up with it. They bounced from one thing to another and he was sure Dan was throwing in muggle subjects whenever Sebastian had some idea what was going on just to throw him on purpose.

Why was he even bothering with this? Dan didn’t want to be his friend. Jev didn’t want to be his friend. If Hanna did, fine, but Sebastian didn’t see why he had to jump through all these hoops. He didn’t need friends. He’d never had them before and he was pretty sure they weren’t going to be that important, as long as he studied well. If it weren’t for the fact he knew Kimi would go to his parents if he didn’t make any friends, Sebastian would have given up on them all by now.

When Dan changed the subject to something Sebastian knew nothing about for the twentieth time, Sebastian gave up even trying to keep up. His eyes drifted from Hanna and his so called friends and around the Great Hall, trying to keep himself awake. He found himself watching Professor Horner, who was having a conversation with the ghost teacher Sebastian couldn’t quite remember the name of.

Everything would have been fine if it weren’t for his extra potions lessons. He would have been able to help Hanna when she was sticking her nose into Dan and Jev’s business and then she probably wouldn’t have been so annoyed at him. Maybe Dan wouldn’t have even been so annoyed at him. But the extra potions lessons were more important. He’d come here to study, not to mess about.

“Seb?” Hanna said, nudging him a little and making Sebastian jump out of his day dream. She nodded behind him and Sebastian turned to find Kimi hovering over him.

“Hello?” Sebastian said, a little confused. He hadn’t even heard Kimi come over.

“We need to talk, Seb,” Kimi said.

“What about?” Sebastian asked.

Kimi pulled Sebastian out of his seat, not bothering to answer, and dragged him out of the Great Hall.

Dan just shrugged and went back to the conversation.

“What is the matter?” Sebastian asked, pulling his arm out of Kimi’s grip, but the older student just took hold of Sebastian’s shoulder and continued to steer him away from the Great Hall.

“You are putting too much pressure on yourself,” Kimi said, coming to a stop a little way away from anywhere Sebastian would recognise and crossing his arms. It was his job to look after the first year and so far he hadn’t been doing a very good job of that.

“No I’m not,” Sebastian said. He wasn’t going to stand and have this conversation already. He was sick of being told by people that he shouldn’t be doing his best, that he was working too hard. He was _eleven years old_. He was pretty sure he knew what he was doing.

“Yes you are,” Kimi said. “You look like you have not slept since you got here.”

“Hey!”

“Is true,” Kimi said with a small shrug. “And I do not think you are eating right.”

“You’re not my mum,” Sebastian said. He could look after himself. He wouldn’t be here if he couldn’t.

“No,” Kimi said. “But you are still not sleeping and you are still not eating. You are not making friends.”

“I have friends,” Sebastian protested.

“Really?” Kimi said. He didn’t believe that for a second.

“Yes,” Sebastian said. “Well… Yes. No. It doesn’t matter. I don’t need friends.”

“You are going to make yourself sick, Sebastian,” Kimi said.

“I’m fine,” Sebastian tried to insist.

“I think you should stop your extra potions class,” Kimi said.

Sebastian rolled his eyes before glaring at Kimi, but he just looked like an unimpressed toddler and Kimi had to fight back a laugh.

“I don’t need to stop anything,” Sebastian said. He made to march off back the way they had come, but he didn’t really have any idea where he was so he fell back against the wall.

“If you are not going to stop, then I am going to talk to Professor Horner,” Kimi said. He wasn’t going to let his friend stress himself to death in first year. That could wait until he had actual exams to focus on. Not now. And Kimi knew he would be stressed. He knew what Sebastian was like.

“No,” Sebastian said, grabbing hold of Kimi’s arm when the Finn made to head back the way they had come. “Please don’t.”

“Sebastian, I am worried about you,” Kimi said. “You cannot go on like this. Not already.”

“Alright,” Sebastian said, nodding. He was going to have to do what he needed to do. That was why the sorting hat had placed him in Slytherin, wasn’t it? “Alright, I’ll go to Professor Horner. I’ll stop the lessons.”

“You promise?” Kimi asked, carefully.

“I promise,” Sebastian said, not letting Kimi see his crossed fingers.


	47. Problems at Breakfast

Rob was honestly surprised with how well dinner had gone the night before. He had been aware of people watching him as he ate, and again in the common room in the evening when he played chess with Claire, but nobody had come over and said anything. He was going to have to address the whispers soon, tell them what had really happened so they could all move on with their lives, but he’d been hoping they would disperse of their own accord. There was a new drama every week in Hogwarts. He just hoped he would be old news soon.

But not this soon, it seemed.

Rob tried to sit beside the Ravenclaw students he had hung out with before this whole mess started at breakfast, but the other students “discreetly” shifted up the bench and away from him. Rob just gritted his teeth and turned back to his eggs, only sighing when Claire felt the need to drag Susie and Valtteri over to sit around him.

“I’m fine,” Rob insisted.

“You look it,” Claire said.

“Are you coming to the was-uph meeting?” Susie said, knowing when to change the subject.

 

Fernando was sat on Mark’s lap again at breakfast and, though Jenson was used to this after however many years of it, he was still trying to work out what was going on between the two of them.

“Will you two get a room,” Lewis commented from further down the table as Fernando fed Mark part of his bacon. The two of them ignored him, unsurprisingly, but Jenson moved down the table a little to sit beside the seeker.

“Have you noticed anything odd between Fernando and Mark?” Jenson asked. He knew there was something going on between the two of them, but he was still at a loss as to what it was.

“How do you mean?” Lewis asked. All he’d noticed was the two of them were glued to each other, but that was nothing new.

Jenson waved his hand at them, not sure how to describe what he meant.

“They’re the same as always,” Lewis said, confused. “Gross, but normal.”

“Something’s different,” Jenson said, looking back at the pair of them. He knew he couldn’t tell Lewis about Mark’s planned proposal, because there was no way that would stay secret for very long, but Lewis had to be able to see that there was something off about the two of them.

“Alright,” Lewis muttered, returning to his breakfast. He didn’t really have any intention of analysing his class mates’ relationship.

“What is it?” Jenson asked.

“I don’t know,” Lewis said. “Man, just ask them. It’s got nothing to do with me.”

Lewis turned back to his bowl of cereal, hoping the captain would leave him in peace.

Jenson huffed, annoyed, but dropped the subject. Lewis was obviously going to be no help. He was going to have to figure out what was wrong with Mark himself.

 

Everything sounded as if he were underwater when Felipe came into the Great Hall in the middle of breakfast. He hadn’t quite made it to the common room the night before. He couldn’t stand the idea of facing Bruno, being forced to explain himself once Bruno had calmed down a little. Felipe didn’t think he _could_ explain himself. He’d been sat in the secret passageway – the passageway where it had all fucking happened – trying to explain it to himself. He hadn’t even managed to convince himself that he deserved forgiving, let alone anybody else.

That was where he had fallen asleep. By the time he made it back to the common room in the morning, most students were already on their way to breakfast. Bruno was nowhere to be seen and nobody else tried to talk to him. Felipe was grateful for that, at least.

Some of the students turned to watch him as Felipe walked down the Gryffindor table, trying not to look at anybody. The students turned to whisper to their friends and Felipe wondered how many of them knew what he had done. How many of them had believed him in the first place? He didn’t dare glance over to the Ravenclaw table, but he hoped Rob hadn’t noticed him come in.

Bruno was sat by himself at the Gryffindor table, picking apart his toast and watching Karun on the other side of the hall. Maybe he had to try apologising to Rob first. It wouldn’t work, of course. He’d screwed up way too much and it would take more than his pathetic apology to come even close to forgiveness. But if he tried and Karun saw, maybe the Slytherin would help. It was worth a try. Unless, of course, he made things even _worse_ with Rob and Bruno wasn’t entirely sure how he could do that, but he knew he was probably capable of it. He was pretty good at making things worse.

Felipe sat himself down on the bench opposite Bruno, blocking his friend’s view.

“No,” Bruno said, simply.

“Bruno please,” Felipe said. He couldn’t just abandon him, could he? Felipe knew he’d screwed up, screwed up more than he ever had before, but Bruno was still his best friend. He had to try and _help_.

“No,” Bruno said again, picking up his bowl of cereal and moving down the table.

“Bruno?” Felipe called after him, but his friend wasn’t listening and there were already enough people staring at him. He didn’t need to attract anymore.

“Come on,” Fernando said, gently and Felipe hadn’t realised the fifth year had been stood right behind him until there was a hand on his shoulder, pulling him to sit with Fernando and Mark. “Are you alright?”

Felipe nodded, quickly, wiping his eyes on the end of his sleeves and silently accepting the toast Mark pushed in front of him.

 

Rob had been listening to Susie go on about her meeting about the squibs for nearly half an hour now and he knew he should be grateful that there was somebody treating him normally but he couldn’t bring himself to care about the meeting at all. It would be his first day back in lessons and he could barely remember his time table, his head filled with so much rubbish after the last couple of days.

Maybe it would do him good to get back into lessons, back into a routine. If he could get his mind to focus properly on lessons, he’d be able to ignore all the whispers, he was sure.

“Where are you going?” Valtteri asked as his boyfriend stood midway through Susie’s rant. He had a feeling Rob wasn’t suddenly getting passionate about the was-uph cause.

“The common room,” Rob said, quietly. “I need to get ready for class.”

“Class isn’t for another hour and a half yet,” Claire said. She was fairly sure her time table was the same as Rob’s. “You have a free, remember?”

“I just want to make sure I’m ready,” Rob said, nodding to himself. He’d rather spend the next hour waiting in the silence of his charms classroom than listening to Susie go on and on as if there wasn’t anything more important in the world than the squib she’d met a week ago.

“Wait a second and I will come with you,” Valtteri said, snatching up the last slice of toast he had on his plate.

“I’m fine, Valtteri, you don’t have to,” Rob said. He didn’t need an escort wherever he went. He would be fine.

“Rob?”

“I said I’m fine, Val,” Rob snapped, attracting a few more glances from the students who were sat around him. Rob sighed, annoyed at himself, but didn’t bother to apologise before walking quickly back down the hall.

Rob didn’t look back, not wanting to know if Valtteri was following him or not. He just needed some time alone.

As Rob reached the door to the hall, he saw a pale green light head towards him out of the corner of his eye, then he was leaning against the door and heaving. A roar of laughter erupted from the students around him as the first slug fell from Rob’s mouth, landing with a splat in a puddle of slime and spit.

There was barely enough time to let out a shaky groan before Rob was heaving again and the next slug landed beside the first.

“Pervert!”

The jeer cut through the laughter, which quickly disappeared. There was a rush of whispers whilst Rob heaved again, stumbling forward to try to get out of sight of his fellow students before he could throw up again. The word _pervert_ echoed around the hall.

“Rob?”

Valtteri had hurried after him and was now rubbing his back as another slug flopped on the floor.

“I’m fine,” Rob tried to insist, but he was crying now. So much for everything being ok. This was never going to be ok.

“Rob!” Bruno rushed to a stop beside them, skidding on the slug and having to grab hold of Rob to stop himself falling over.

“You leave him alone,” Valtteri said, glaring at Bruno. “Don’t you think you’ve done enough?”

“I came to help,” Bruno explained, helping Valtteri to lift Rob up and dodging another slug. “I know how to get it to stop, but we need to get to the hospital wing.”


	48. A few different kinds of slugs

Sebastian was the only one stood in the dungeon corridor, waiting for his potions lesson to begin. He knew Kimi would be looking for him at dinner, but he figured he’d be able to tell him that he’d gone to see Professor Horner about dropping his extra lessons. Sebastian, of course, had no intention of doing so, but he didn’t fancy the idea of sitting at breakfast with wonderful Jev.

It wasn’t too late to find some new friends, was it? He knew most of the kids in his year already seemed to have formed their own little groups, but it couldn’t be that hard to hang out on the edge of one of those, just involved enough to stop Kimi going to his mother and telling her he hadn’t made any friends. It would probably be a lot less effort than trying to play Jev’s stupid game. Or maybe he would give up and when Jev turned back and hurt Hanna and Dan, they’d come crawling back to him. Either one of the ideas seemed a lot better to this stupid situation he was in now.

“You’re here early,” Professor Horner observed, nearly making Sebastian have a heart attack. The potions master smirked. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Sebastian lied. He forced himself to smile as Professor Horner opened the door and let him inside.

The class classroom wasn’t the same one as his private lessons. It was a bigger room, with four rows of benches that sat about six on a row, three on each side of the aisle. Sebastian took his seat at the front of the class, before deciding he could be more useful and stood to help Professor Horner set up the cauldrons for the class.

“You’re rather egger today, aren’t you Sebastian,” Horner said as he handed Sebastian a small pile of cauldrons. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

“Is there something wrong?” Sebastian asked, suddenly. He wasn’t acting suspicious, was he? Not that he had done anything for his teacher to be suspicious of.

“Why don’t you tell me?” Horner said. “Sebastian, sit down. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Sebastian insisted, but he did as he was told, taking his seat at the front of the class again. Professor Horner took a stool and sat down beside him, concern clear on his face.

“Tell me what’s going on and maybe I can fix it,” Horner said. “ _Maybe_ I can fix it. We can’t have my star pupil upset, can we?”

“It’s nothing,” Sebastian mumbled again, beginning to squirm under his teacher’s gaze. “It’s just… my friend’s think I’m putting too much pressure on myself.”

“Ah,” Professor Horner said. “Are these the Hufflepuffs you have been hanging out with?”

“Well, yeah,” Sebastian admitted. He didn’t want to let on that he probably wouldn’t be hanging out with Dan and Hanna for much longer. He didn’t want his teacher to think he couldn’t cope with making friends and his extra lessons, like everyone else seemed to think was the case. “And Kimi.”

“Räikkönen?” Horner clarified and Sebastian nodded. “Well, they are Hufflepuffs Sebastian. You can’t expect them to understand.”

“Why not?” Sebastian asked as Professor Horner stood again and continued to set up for his potions lesson.

“Well, Hufflepuffs aren’t exactly known for being ambitious, are they?”

Sebastian narrowed his eyes, not entirely sure he understood what his teacher was saying. Professor Horner glanced over at him, smiling at the confusion.

“Take your friend Mr Räikkönen,” he said, not looking at Sebastian as he spoke. “Professor Lauda tells me he has never seen a student better at Care For Magical Creatures than him. But he didn’t chose to continue down that career path because he was scared. Scared of the success he could have and not knowing what he could do with it. He let his parents tell him what to do and he will probably end up with some boring ministry job with nowhere else to go. And you don’t want that to happen to you, do you Sebastian?”

“No sir,” Sebastian said, quickly. That was his worst nightmare.

“Exactly,” Professor Horner said. “Don’t worry about what your friends think. They’re different to you, and don’t understand.”

Sebastian nodded. There had to be a reason they were all separated into the different houses.

“But… how do I stop them worrying about me?” Sebastian said. He didn’t want Kimi going and telling his mother he wasn’t coping. She’d probably get on the first train up here and march him back home.

“They’ll get over it,” Horner said. “I’ll have a word with Professor Schumacher, see if I can get Räikkönen off of your back for you.”

“Thank you sir,” Sebastian said with a grin. How could he quit his potions class when the teacher was the only person he’d met who actually understood him?

 

The potion smelt disgusting but not as disgusting as the bucket of slugs Rob was producing, so the sixth year closed his eyes and gulped down the concoction Bruno had produced. Bruno and Valtteri sat either side of him, waiting to see if it had worked, as the colour slowly returned to Rob’s cheeks.

“How are you feeling?” Valtteri asked after about half a minute without a slug.

Rob looked at Valtteri through half closed eyes, then at the bucket of slugs.

“Could be better,” he mumbled. He heaved again but this time there was no slug.

“You will probably feel sick for about an hour,” Bruno explained whilst Valtteri rubbed Rob’s back. “But there will not be any more slugs.”

The nurse took the bucket of slugs away, replacing it with another in case the student actually was sick.

“Thank you,” Rob said, quietly.

“It’s the least I could do,” Bruno said. “After everything else I have done.”

He could feel Valtteri glaring at him behind Rob’s back and knew that he was going to have to convince him that he had had no part in coming up with the stupid plan Felipe had gotten him involved in.

“You didn’t _do_ anything,” Rob said. He didn’t notice the confused look Valtteri shot Bruno.

“Felipe wanted me to keep my mouth shut,” Bruno said. “But I didn’t. I’m sorry.”

“You already said that,” Rob said. “Bruno, seriously, it’s fine. Stop looking like a drowned puppy.”

“It’s not fine though,” Valtteri said, wiping Rob’s hair out of his eyes. This wasn’t fine and it wasn’t fair either. It should have been Felipe and Bruno sitting through all of this, but it didn’t even look like they were being punished. “You shouldn’t have to deal with this.”

“I’m ok,” Rob lied. He didn’t need to get Valtteri involved in his problems. The fourth year already had enough on his plate at the moment and it should have been Rob looking after him, not the other way around. He wished he could just tell him to leave, but knew Valtteri wouldn’t understand that, would only think Rob didn’t want him anymore. “They’ll get over it.”

“But what if they don’t?” Valtteri said. He was not going to let his boyfriend be bullied because of some sick joke.

“Then we’ll look after him, won’t we,” Bruno said, trying to get Valtteri to go along with him.

“We don’t need help from you,” Valtteri snapped.

“Valtteri, it wasn’t his fault,” Rob said, quietly. “And I don’t need either of you to look after me. It’s the first day.”

He’d keep telling himself that it was going to get better, and maybe that would convince Valtteri.

“Don’t you two have lessons to go to?” Rob asked.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Valtteri asked.

“If Rob says he’s alright, then he’s alright.”

All three boys looked up to find Claire watching them.

“You two have lessons,” she said. “Rob, you’ve got a free, haven’t you? Do you mind if we go over the Defence Against The Dark Arts stuff now, if you’re feeling up for it?”

“Yeah,” Rob said, standing. He still felt as if he was going to be sick, but he wasn’t going to admit that in front of Valtteri. “I’ll see you later, Val, yeah?”

“See you later,” Valtteri said, quietly, watching Rob leave the hospital wing.

“Thank you,” Rob said once they were out of eye sight of Valtteri.

“Don’t worry about it,” Claire said, linking her arm through Rob’s and guiding him back to the Ravenclaw dormitory so they could pick up their things. “He was really worried about you, you know.”

“I know,” Rob said. Before, he’d been happy about that. Now Rob couldn’t help but wonder if Valtteri would have been better off believing Felipe. At least that way he wouldn’t have to deal with the apparent responsibility of looking after him. The kid didn’t need that on top of everything else.

“You and Valtteri…” Claire said, slowly. “You’re close.”

“I guess,” Rob said, not really paying attention and not realising what Claire was trying to get at.

Claire rolled her eyes. Subtle had never worked with Rob and she didn’t even know why she bothered.

“He said you rejected him after I told you how he felt,” Claire said. “But you didn’t, did you?”

Rob fell to a stop, realising what Claire was saying. The look on his face must have made it obvious what the answer was, and now Claire was grinning from ear to ear. She carried on walking, pulling Rob along with her, as Rob’s face got redder and redder.

“We’re just friends,” Rob lied.

“You’re going out, aren’t you,” Claire said, each step bouncing a little she was so excited. This was the best news she’d heard in ages.

“No we’re not.”

“Don’t lie to me Rob,” Claire said. “You’re practically my brother. I know when you’re lying.”

“Fine,” Rob snapped, a little annoyed. He hadn’t wanted anybody to know. Nobody else _needed_ to know. And he didn’t know how much longer he and Valtteri were going to last if he couldn’t stop the younger Ravenclaw fussing over him. It wasn’t going to be good for Valtteri’s grades and they both agreed that school had to come first. “But we’re not broadcasting it to the school so keep it to yourself.”

“Why not?” Claire asked. “I mean, I won’t tell anyone. Of course not. But why don’t you want anyone to know?”

“Because it’s nobody else’s business,” Rob said.

“Because if it’s because of that little _rat_ …”

“It has nothing to do with Felipe,” Rob hissed, pulling them to a stop again. He needed to make this clear. If he was ever going to have any hope of moving on from this, he needed to make this clear. “Look, I don’t want to mention Felipe ever again, alright. Not in a shitty way, not in a casual way. Not at all. I just want to pretend he doesn’t exist and get on with my life. Valtteri and I are keeping us a secret because nobody else has to know. It has nothing to do with him and everything to do with what we feel comfortable with. So can we just… stop talking about that now? What did I miss in Defence Against the Dark Arts?”


	49. Muggle Studies and Crazy Explanaitons

Valtteri was still not talking to Bruno as the Gryffindor followed him up to their Muggle Studies class. He was hoping Bruno would have little interest in talking to him either, because he had to slip off to go back to charms after the lesson and he could do without having to give any unnecessary explanations as to why he wasn’t going with Bruno to whatever lesson they had next.

He didn’t care what Rob said. Well, he _did_ , of course, but he knew his boyfriend was lying. Valtteri wasn’t entirely sure _why_ Rob couldn’t just tell him he wasn’t ok, because it was clear he wasn’t ok, but Valtteri wasn’t going to push him. If he was uncomfortable with talking to him about it now, Valtteri pushing him into a conversation about it was only going to make it worse. He would just need to be sneakier about his caring.

“Valtteri?” Bruno said, skipping up a couple of steps so he was walking at Valtteri’s side. “Valtteri, I really didn’t know. I really am sorry.”

“I do not believe you,” Valtteri muttered. As soon as he did so, he mentally groaned. He shouldn’t have reacted. He shouldn’t have given him the satisfaction of a conversation.

“I know,” Bruno said. “And I don’t know how to convince you, but I promise I did not know. I believed Felipe and I was an idiot and I’m sorry.”

All he could do was apologise and apologise again. He didn’t think it was going to do any good, but what else could he do?

“Of course,” Valtteri said.

There were already a few other students sat in the muggle studies classroom, and Bruno stopped in the door way, searching for Felipe, but he hadn’t arrived yet. Valtteri took his seat near the front of the class. It would be a waste of an hour, he knew, but an O.W.L was an O.W.L, after all.

“Senna!” Professor Hunt called, floating down the classroom to where Bruno was stood in the doorway. “Could I have a word with you after class?”

“What about?” Bruno asked.

“About you’re “friend”,” Professor Hunt said, quietly. “With the _problem_.”

“What- oh!” Bruno said, realising what the teacher was talking about. “Yeah, yeah, sure.”

“Great,” Professor Hunt said. “Well, if you’d like to take a seat, we’ll get started.”

Bruno looked around the class again, making sure Felipe definitely wasn’t there, before taking his usual seat at the back of the class. He didn’t _really_ want to know where Felipe was. As long as he was as far away from Bruno as possible, he didn’t care. But Bruno was pretty sure Felipe was going to be in even more trouble if he was skipping classes. That wasn’t his problem now, though, he thought, as Professor Hunt started the next football match on the muggle television.

 

Kimi had a free period, and had decided to not spend it in the library like he knew he probably should have been doing. He was out wandering in the grounds, no route planned but, somehow, he knew exactly where he was going to end up.

Professor Lauda was taking a class of second years at the edge of the forest. The creature – Flobberworms -in the little cot like baskets weren’t anything too dangerous or exciting, and most of the second years were looking over them with about as much enthusiasm as if they were looking over… well, a worm.

Kimi stood at the edge of the class, trying to look like he wasn’t eavesdropping, but he couldn’t help the grin that spread onto his face as his teacher’s voice cut through the small murmur.

“Magnessen? _How_ exactly do you think it is going to eat you, when it doesn’t have any teeth?”

“Well, _something_ bit me sir,” the second year said, holding up his finger. Kimi couldn’t see the apparent injury from where he was stood, but he could tell by the look on Professor Lauda’s face that it wasn’t very impressive.

“That is a splinter, Magnessen,” the teacher said, making Kimi’s smirk grow. He plucked the tiny splitter of wood out of the student’s finger, making the student yelp in pain. “There you go. All better.”

A small eruption of giggles spread through the class and Kimi could see the second year blushing a little.

Kimi watched as Professor Lauda explained to the class exactly how they were supposed to be feeding the Flobberworms, remembering the lesson he had had himself four years ago now.

He knew Professor Lauda had spotted him after he finished his explanation to the class, and there was no chance of slipping away quietly. Kimi also had a good idea what lecture about studying during his free periods he was going to get as the Care For Magical Creatures teacher made his way over to him.

“Do you not have a lesson to go to, Mr Räikkönen?” Lauda asked.

“I have a free, sir,” Kimi said.

“And you decided to spend it hanging around at the back of a second year class?” Professor Lauda asked, a smile on his face. He knew why Kimi was here, but he needed the sixth year to admit it.

“I was wondering if I could help out or something,” Kimi said. He knew it would probably be a waste of time, like he knew taking the Care for Magical Creatures N.E.W.T class would be a waste of time, but he wanted something to keep him away from the boredom of History of Magic and Transfiguration.

“You were wondering if you could help?” Professor Lauda repeated, surprised. “Why would you like to help here when you have no intention of taking it as a career?”

“Sir, there is no career to take,” Kimi mumbled. This wasn’t the lecture he was expecting to get, but it would have been a miracle to not get one from the teacher.

“You _make_ one.”

“It isn’t that easy, sir,” Kimi insisted. “People don’t just hire creature Hunters anymore. There’s hardly any to even look after now.”

Professor Lauda couldn’t deny that. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to argue about it.

“If there are hardly any to look after, it means it’s even more important to look after them,” Professor Lauda said. “I’d be very happy to write you a letter of recommendation if you were to ever choose that career option.”

“ _Professor_.”

Kimi had already had this discussion with the teacher in his fourth year, after he’d been to speak to the career advisor and the career advisor had decided to go and see Professor Lauda about the fact he wasn’t going into the field Professor Lauda had thought he would. The lecture never changed, and Kimi was a little surprised the teacher kept trying, even when it was obvious Kimi didn’t have a choice.

“You cannot just give up on something you are good at and you want to do,” Professor Lauda said, not listening to Kimi’s protests. “I know you can do it. You just have to believe in yourself.”

Kimi rolled his eyes. He could go along with the same argument he went with every time he tried to explain his career plan to his teacher, but he knew it would be no use.

“Professor Lauda, it definitely bit me this time!”

The second year had jumped away from the cage and was now peering down at his finger. Professor Lauda rolled his eyes.

“Come and speak to me tonight,” he said. “We’ll see what we can do about you getting some extra experience.”

 

“So what do you think?” Jenson said.

They were sat in the library, with Nico _trying_ to get Jenson to focus on the Defence Against the Dark Arts Jenson had asked for help with whilst Jenson spied on Mark and Fernando, who were sat a couple of tables away from them. If _they_ could manage to study together without getting too distracted, Nico had thought he might be able to study with Jenson, but apparently not. Not that it was Nico Jenson was getting distracted by, much to Nico’s annoyance.

“I think you’re insane,” Nico said, about ready to give up on studying.

“Well, there’s something going on,” Jenson said.

“Yes, I know there’s something going on,” Nico said. Mark just would not ask Fernando to marry him. Not whilst they were both studying. Everybody knew that. “But that _doesn’t_ mean Fernando has given him a love potion. Why _would_ he?”

“Do you have any ideas?” Jenson asked.

“No.”

“Exactly.”

“That doesn’t mean anything,” Nico said. Fernando had no reason to give Mark a love potion, not when the Ravenclaw had been head over heels in love with him since second year. There was just no reason for it, never mind the fact Nico was pretty sure love potions weren’t exactly easy to come across.

“It’s an explanation,” Jenson said. “And it’s the only one we have.”

“We could say Mark has been replaced by some evil wizard trying to get to Fernando and it would make about as much sense as the love potion,” Nico pointed out.

Jenson narrowed his eyes, trying to figure out what Nico was trying to suggest. Nico just shook his head and turned back to the Defence Against the Dark Arts textbook.

“Come on, let’s just focus on this,” Nico said.

“You don’t really think Mark could have been replaced, do you?” Jenson asked, looking between his boyfriend and Mark. Mark and Fernando still hadn’t noticed that they were being watched, no matter how indiscrete the watching was.

“Of course not,” Nico said. “But “it is an explanation”.”

“I don’t like it Nico,” Jenson said, rolling the idea around inside his mind. Nico was right. For all they knew, Mark _could_ have been replaced by some evil wizard and, in that case, Fernando was going to be in a lot of trouble.

 

Bruno hung back after the rest of the class had finished packing away the few pieces of equipment they’d bothered to take out. Felipe hadn’t shown up and a small part of him was a little worried about him, because neither of them _ever_ skipped Muggle Studies, but whatever had happened to him, Bruno was sure he deserved it. Probably a lot worse too.

Professor Hunt waited until the rest of the class had left before coming back over to Bruno.

“I’m not going to tell anyone, you know,” Hunt said, grinning.

“Tell anyone what?” Bruno asked, a little confused.

“That this potion’s for the Slytherin you’ve been hanging around with,” Professor Hunt said, folding his arms and sitting on the desk in front of Bruno’s.

“I can’t say who it’s for, sir,” Bruno said, quietly.

“Tell me I’m wrong then,” Hunt said, smugly. “It doesn’t matter. I’m not going to tell anybody. I’m just curious. Why?”

“Why what?” Bruno asked, even more confused.

“Don’t worry, I know _why_ he’s a werewolf,” Hunt laughed. “But why are you helping him? Seems a little odd to me.”

“Why wouldn’t I help him?” Bruno asked. What kind of a question was that?

“Because he’s a werewolf,” Professor Hunt said. “And it’s not as if you’ve been friends for years or anything. If Massa were to reveal he were a werewolf, I might understand it. But this new boy? You’ve no need to be loyal to him. I don’t understand it.”

“Karun is my friend,” Bruno bit back. He didn’t really know if that was true at the moment but he was going to keep on claiming it until Karun told him otherwise. “ _If_ he _were_ a werewolf, I would do what I could to protect him. I am sorry, sir, but I don’t know why it matters why.”

“Of course not,” Professor Hunt said, standing. “It doesn’t. I was just making sure.”

“Make sure what?” Bruno asked, suspiciously. He hadn’t dropped Karun in it, had he? He knew the only thing that would convince the muggle studies teacher that Karun wasn’t the werewolf would be to find someone else to blame, but _admitting_ it would be betraying Karun, and he didn’t want to do that.

“That you’re in this for the long run,” Professor Hunt said. “If people find out about your friend, you are going to be in a lot of trouble. People won’t care about how nice you are or how nice he is. He’s a werewolf and you were helping him. There’s nothing against Hogwarts rules, of course. The boy wouldn’t have been let in if there was. But it’s not exactly socially acceptable and you’re going to get a lot of shit coming your way if people find out the truth.”

Bruno watched Professor Hunt turn his back on him, going to his desk to retrieve something. He’d never really thought about how people would treat him if anyone ever found out about Karun. It didn’t really matter, not when people would be ready to kill Karun. He knew what people did to werewolves. He’d read the books and he’d heard his mother’s stories about his uncle.

“Here,” Professor Hunt said, handing Bruno a note. “The potion should be ready tomorrow evening. Take this to Professor Horner and he’ll give it to you. Then if you come here I’ll go through everything you need to know about it. It would probably help if your _friend_ came too.”


End file.
